The Nazara
by RavenRose8
Summary: Commanders Ruby Rose and Neopolitan Gelato are the best the Alliance have to offer, but events with far reaching consequences are being set in motion. On a routine retrieval mission everything goes wrong, and what was supposed to be a Spectre evaluation turns into something much more. Follow these two women as they go through the trials ahead of them. (Characters from ME and RWBY.)
1. Chapter 1

**Just a few words before it all begins. A full Mass Effect story is something I've always wanted to do. It's my favourite game series and I've just wanted to do this, and now I've started that. The whole first game is complete and there will be changes to the story so it will be different from what you know. But there are a lot of the same stuff you know.**

 **Please enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1-**

"What about Rose? She's a survivor of Mindoir, she was only sixteen when slavers raided the planet killing everyone but that leaves scars behind, she's unstable." One of the men in the meeting room asked to the others.

"Are you sure we're talking about the same woman? Rose and Gelato held off the attack on Elysium, both were awarded for it and are very much stable." The second voice answered back, dismissing the claims.

"But let's not forget about Torfan, you saw what happened when she was separated from Gelato. She got the job done, we knew her history but we still let her go. It's on us, but she wears all those losses personally. But she proves she gets the job done, no matter the cost." A third voice said.

"Are we all in agreement then?" The first voice asked.

"What about Gelato? Surely we could forward her instead." The second voice stated.

"Where one goes, the other follows. We can only put one forward, but I believe it's already out of our hands just exactly who they're looking at." The first voice stated.

"I'll make the call." The third voice stated.

* * *

"Another round on me!" Commander Ruby Rose of the Alliance called out to the bar. There wasn't loads of people there but enough, and not even one of them recognised Ruby for who she was. To which she was beyond thankful for.

She had a certain reputation. Thanks to the media her service record and life as it were, was public if not common knowledge among those on Earth. Though the bar she was at, was one she frequented often.

She was born on a colony, raised on the planet Mindoir, which was a small border colony in the Attican Traverse. When she had turned sixteen slavers raided the planet killing her father, sister and all her friends. It was only luck that a passing Alliance patrol saved her. Led by her Uncle, Qrow.

Between her uncle Qrow and her mother, Summer. Who was serving in the Alliance military and was away from home when the attack happened, leading only to fuel Ruby's anger towards the events. Believing if her mother was there, then her sister and father would still be alive.

But between the pair they looked after her, though with both serving in the military she was left alone a lot which was how she met her closest friend to date and aided her in escaping a gang and the life of petty crime.

For two years, the pair were together and enlisted in the Alliance, somehow managing to always serve at the same place and joined the N7's. It was on their leave after graduating, travelling to a planet called Elysium to spend their free time together.

However, it all went to shit on the first day. It was Ruby's one rule that she always carried a weapon, no matter how big or small.

Slavers attacked the planet, and it fell to Ruby and her friend to form a defence, being the most highly trained and highest ranking soldiers on the ground except the PDF leadership but they were hit first.

So, the pair formed a defence against the attacking slavers, but slowly and surely the defenders were widdled down to the point that Ruby ordered them to fall back into protective bunkers while the duo fought on.

Both fought to biotic exhaustion in turns with Ruby charging first and launching throws and warps around the place as she fought until it got to the point where she had to stay back and let Neo take over.

Ruby fought to near biotic exhaustion first, pulling back to cover friend who was next to use her biotics. They worked like this to avoid both becoming exhausted at the same time. And Ruby, being the better shot, went first.

Eventually, after fifty-four hours of fighting the Alliance relief force arrived. Raining hell upon the Slavers fleet as ground troops moved in to rescue anyone still alive down there.

Which was when they found Ruby and her friend leaning against each other at the doors leading to the bunker where they had pistols raised and combat knives in their other hand. Hordes of dead Batarians littering the floor in front of them.

As soon as they realised they were safe in the hands of the Alliance the pair passed out together and were carried to the ship in orbit. Captained by Qrow once more, her mother being too far away and not even having knowledge of the event until Qrow told her.

Once rested, their achievements were spread across the whole of council space, awarded the highest honours for defending the colony.

After this however, the Alliance retaliated against the Batarians, her friend was still in the hospital recovering from the defence, but Ruby had healed much quicker and so requested to lead the mission, much to her mother's displeasure.

That was only time the duo was separated, and that was a turning point for the pair because it created a small rift between the two, though not intentional.

Ruby was known as being cold and calculating, even outright brutal depending on the circumstance but in equal measures she could be kind, compassionate and even loving. But this wasn't one of those times.

Leading her unit, they met far more resistance then intelligence suggested. So much so to the point that she ended up losing almost her entire unit sent with her. So, when the Batarians surrendered to her, and upon learning of their involvement in the raid on her home. She shot each one of them.

The memory of this event haunted her nightly, to the point that she had taken to staying up nightly and visiting bars instead of sleeping. Much to her friend and roommate's annoyance.

They were on Earth, and tomorrow they would be travelling to meet their new Captain alongside the ship they would be serving together on.

"RUBY SUMMER ROSE! YOU GET YOUR ASS HERE RIGHT NOW!" A voice yelled out, stunning several patrons in the bar. Mainly because when they turned to look at the origin of the voice they saw a small woman dressed in black jeans and a t-shirt with a white jacket over the top.

Sighing, Ruby paid the amount she owned and stood up, grabbing her leather jacket and walking towards her friend, Commander Neopolitan Gelato.

She always stood out, her hair much like her name was mirrored after the ice cream. Half pink and half brown, with a line of white through the pink half. Her eyes, a mixture between pink, brown and light blue. Somehow, she could change her eye colour constantly between the three, which was always fun to mess with people.

Her long hair was tied back into a high and loose ponytail and she was glaring angrily towards Ruby who was slowly walking over to her.

"Hi Nea." Ruby said sheepishly sober, even after downing half a bottle of whiskey by herself.

"Don't 'hi Nea' me. We're going home right now!" Neo demanded coldly, grabbing Ruby's hand and pulling her out of the club.

"Sorry guys. The wife calls." Ruby said teasingly to the others in the bar, to roaring laughter in return as she was dragged out of the bar.

Ruby's long hair was handing loose down her back, after not being cut for years and no one ever bothered to question them about it.

Both women were subtly beautiful. They never applied make-up, or really modelled their hair at all. But their faces simply held a subtle beauty to them that made people turn their heads and look.

Neo grabbed Ruby's arm, pulling her roughly out of the bar and almost threw her into a taxi and climbed in next to her. Giving the driver the address, the journey was silent except for the low hum of the car.

They didn't speak much; it was their routine. Neo would let Ruby go out to drink, making her think she got away with it. If there was anything important the next day she would get her, if there wasn't she'd wait until a suitable time in the night to pick Ruby up, making sure she got home safely.

Arriving at their modest, two-bedroom apartment. Once paying the taxi they went inside. Two bags filled with their uniforms and some casual, and even formal clothes were stashed inside.

Walking into their shared bedroom, the second bedroom was used as an office space. Laid out on the bed were two sets of armour alongside weapons.

"What time is the shuttle?" Ruby asked, speaking up for the first time since leaving the bar.

"Two hours. We need to leave in an hour at the latest." Neo replied softly, moving to strip off her clothes.

Ruby followed suit, stripping out of her clothes and putting them to the side to take with her. In silence once more, the pair put on new undergarments, their bare bodies revealing the number of tattoos they each had.

On their backs were a list of names, Ruby's was substantially longer then Neo's. Around their arms, Ruby's right and Neo's left, were a mixture of rose thorns dancing up along their arms leading all the way up to their necks which came out into a rose bush, with several roses underneath their chin and around the front half of their necks.

On Neo's right wrist she had a yin-yang tattoo, half pink and half brown with a little bit of white added in to match her hair. Whereas Ruby just had a single black rose on her left wrist instead.

Once into their new undergarments the pair pulled on their skin tight nanosuits that acted as armour strong enough to protect against most small arms fire.

The special material it was made from was rare, coming from Asari space which could enhance their biotics, which they didn't really need but found wearing an under suit between skin and armour was much more comfortable. And the ones the Alliance provided were not as good.

They had a thin, but strong chest plate that could weather most sniper fire and heavier weapons. Their thighs and lower legs were encased in the thin armour once more alongside their wrists which had vambraces.

All the armour was thin but strong, and very much likened to the N7 Fury armour, however all their armour was hand crafted by Ruby. Who built it for the pair to use as a graduating present.

Where they weren't covered by actual armour pieces there was another layer of the thin material, connecting all the pieces together and offering extra protection.

And each armour piece carried capacitors to enhance their biotics just that little bit further. And to finish the look off, they both had a hood that was attached to their chest piece that covered their heads, easily able to be taken off.

They were black with a blue highlight around the edges, while Ruby went one step further. Attached to her back, over her shoulders she wore a red cloak. It was her mothers, but her father gave it to her so she could hide from the attacking Batarians.

Over both of their left breasts they had the N7 symbol hand painted onto the armour, to show just who they were.

Once both were in their armour, making sure they were comfortable with the chest piece and armoured shoulders from there, and checking hoods were fine they removed their helmets, deciding not to wear them just yet.

Lastly, they put a series of pouches around their waist, with Ruby putting two extra ones on her chest. They contained thermal clips, grenades and medi-gel that they would need. They also put physical first aid, like bandages in a pouch.

Now they could arm themselves. So, unlocking the safe in their room they started to pull out their weapons.

Neo attached a M-6 Carnifex to her waist, which was already deployed and held in a holster, while putting a M-11 Wraith at the small of her back just for those close encounters.

She also wielded a M-12 Locust, modified with a better recoil system and high velocity barrel, alongside a scope for when she was at a slightly longer range.

And to finish the entire look off for Neo, she carried a grenade launcher on her back, for those times enemies liked to be close to each other.

Ruby had her primary pistol, the M-11 Suppressor that she had outfitted with a scope and a high velocity barrel. But her primary weapon was something of her own creation.

It looked like the M-99 Saber, however the barrel was longer and the under-barrel part was completely taken away and replaced with a smoother rail from the M-92 Mantis sniper rifle with a small angled grip for Ruby to use.

There were two thermal clips in the weapon. One for the primary assault rifle mode, which could be semi-automatic or fully automatic depending on the circumstance. The second thermal clip was stored in the butt of the weapon, it's pure purpose for when Ruby used the sniper mode.

When Ruby does this, the weapon changes slightly. Inside, the second thermal clip is powered through allowing Ruby to fire an overcharged shot, an anti-material shot that can break through anything except tank grade armour. But even then, it would leave a large dent in the tank.

It had a standard ammo clip, it could hold thirty rounds before needing to be changed, and if Ruby needed to change the secondary clip the bottom half of the butt would come down allowing Ruby to change the clip inside.

The scope on the top of the weapon was a permanent fixture, although if Ruby was going in close ranges she had the N7 Hurricane as a backup should she need it, or rather when she charged into combat.

And lastly, she had a M-11 Wraith as well, putting the powerful weapon to good use when she charged forward into a group. Several times she had wielded the shotgun and SMG together to wreck the enemy lines.

Once both women were sufficiently armed up, with enough ammo to take on a small army by themselves. They grabbed their backpacks and left their apartment, locking it up and activating the security system.

Sitting in a new taxi heading towards the spaceport Ruby pulled out the files from her bag that provided her information on their ship and crew.

"Hah. We're fucked." Ruby blurted out randomly, looking at the first file.

"What do you mean?" Neo asked, unsure what Ruby was talking about.

"You haven't seen the ships doctor, have you?" Ruby asked, showing the file to Neo, who just groaned.

"Well, not getting away from medicals then. At least it'll avoid the questions we normally get." Neo stated, they both knew the doctor well. She had treated Ruby after losing her family and then both after Elysium.

The journey was spent once more in silence as the pair read through the files on their crew, learning what they could about them. So far it was only a skeleton crew as the full crew had yet to be finalised but they took what they could get.

Arriving at the spaceport, they grabbed their bags and walked through. Drawing stares from the people around them. Seeing two heavily armed people just walking through the spaceport was rare. Even the security there were not as heavily armed as the two women.

"Commander's Rose and Gelato, priority shuttle to Arcturus Station." Ruby said as they approached the desk, and were quickly hurried through the spaceport towards the rather small shuttle that would carry them to the Alliance capital.

They both slept for the trip, they had a feeling they wouldn't be getting much sleep anytime soon and with such a late night for both and the late trip it meant that they wouldn't be sleeping for quite a few more hours, though the pair were used to this.

* * *

 **Several hours later.**

"Parade! Atten…Tion!" Ruby barked out loudly and the entire crew snapped to attention, except for the pilot who did a little more slowly than the rest.

Ruby and Neo were both fully armoured and geared up, though they had removed their hoods and helmets were resting at their sides.

The whole crew, only small as it was a skeleton crew for the first run. Were assembled into three ranks in front of a small platform where Ruby and Neo were standing, however both had noticed just off to the side was a Turian leaning against the wall watching the entire event.

They watched slowly as Admiral Ozpin and Captain Qrow walked up onto the platform, slowly turning to the assembled troops and gave a small nod to Ruby.

"Parade, stand at ease!" Neo called out, and everyone relaxed slightly with their legs apart and watched the stage eagerly.

"I'll keep this brief, today will be the first flight of the SSV Normandy. You have all been chosen based on your skill; we have the best of the best. Which is what we need for this new type of ship. Be proud that you've gotten this far. And good luck on your maiden journey." Ozpin said, taking a step back to allow Qrow to step up and speak.

"I'll only echo what the Admiral said. You were all handpicked by the Admiral and myself, you have all earned your place on this ship. I can see a great many things from all of you and I'll be proud to be serving alongside you." Qrow said, once more keeping it brief and then turned to Ruby and Neo.

"XO's, get everyone onto the ship if you please." Qrow said.

"Parade! Fall-out!" Ruby called out and everyone snapped to attention, which was returned by the Captain and Admiral and then they turned on their heels, took a few steps out before beginning to board the ship.

Ruby and Neo followed them on, going around the ship to make sure everyone was in position before going up to the bridge to meet Qrow. "Sir, everyone's in position and ready. Awaiting your command." Neo stated.

"Take us out." Qrow said quietly, standing behind the pilot.

"Pilot, at your discretion." Ruby said, standing next to Neo, who was next to Qrow.

"Yes ma'am. Mass effect drive spinning up, pushing power through to the engines…." The pilot, Joker started to list off all the preparations needed to get them flying.

"I'll be in the briefing room. Once we're through the relay, join me there." Qrow stated, and turned to leave walking down the bridge.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **I can't promise regular updates, especially now as my laptop has broken and I'm debating getting it repaired but that can take up to two weeks and I've no idea when exactly I can get somewhere to do it.**

 **Add in stress from work and the rest of my life, well it'll be a fun experience, won't it?**

 **Anyway, while that all happens I'll be working on other things and wherever that ends up, I've got a few things to work on which I've just got to do.**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading and please review if you feel so inclined.**

 **Until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2-**

As the Captain left, the Turian that had been watching the event came up to them. Ruby and Neo already knew who he was, the Captain having informed them both about his presences but not explained it.

"Spectre Nihlus. A pleasure, I'm Commander Rose and with me is Commander Gelato." Ruby said calmly, introducing the pair.

"I know who you are Commanders. Especially you Commander Rose, I look forward to seeing what you have to offer." Nihlus stated before leading the way up to the pilot's chair.

They were quiet as the pilot was flying them towards the relay, calling out all the information as he went through the relay, the inertial dampeners forgoing any feeling of the jump but regardless both women felt it.

"Good job. You're Captain will be pleased." Nihlus commented as he walked away, going to meet with Anderson.

"Good? I'm not good, I'm not even great, I am the best damn helmsman in the Alliance fleet! Look, you remember to zip up your flight suit on the way back from the bathroom, that's good. I just shot us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. That's incredible." The helmsmen, Joker stated to Kaiden.

"He's a Spectre. What do you expect?" Neo stated from behind, shocking the pilot.

"Gods! Don't scare a guy." Joker said, jumping from the sudden statement. "How do you move so quietly in all that gear?" Joker commented, looking over his shoulder to see the two women. Commander Neo, he had spoken with her. She was nice, and would play along with his jokes, whereas the other Commander, Ruby Rose was much different.

Everyone on the ship knew her name, and to a lesser extent knew Neo's. But Ruby was famous across the Alliance for what she had done, and it seemed to scream in her appearance and her behaviour.

Hidden beneath her red cloak she was never out of her armour or without a weapon close by, she was just as the stories said. Softly spoken except for anything official. Several people had attempted casual conversations with her only to be stonewalled.

As Qrow called through asking after a status report and Joker warned him about Nihlus being on his way, while asking for the two women at the same time.

"Thanks, piss him off why don't you." Neo mumbled as she turned to follow Ruby, who was already halfway to the briefing room already.

Walking past the ships doctor, Glynda Goodwitch Ruby just nodded at her while she called out, "Commander Rose, remember you need to see me for a psych evaluation." She called out, only to receive a grunt in reply.

"I'll bring her in doc, don't worry." Neo said, smiling to keep the peace a little bit.

Entering the briefing room, Neo shot a glare at Ruby. "Play nice, she gets to decide if we go on missions or not." Neo stated.

"Fine." Ruby said in reply, turning to see Nihlus looking at them, amused. Or at least they assumed amused. Turian's were always hard to read.

"Eden Prime, the jewel of Alliance human colonies." Nihlus said, ignoring the conversation the two shared.

"Wouldn't know, never been there." Ruby stated, acting on Neo's advice to play nice.

"But it's quite an accomplishment for humanity though, showing that your species is able to establish colonies and protect them." The Turian stated, watching Ruby keenly.

Ruby tensed subtly, it wasn't visible but the room suddenly felt colder and Ruby went to stand at parade rest while Neo spoke up.

"I suppose so, but we were under the impression Captain Qrow would be here." Neo said calmly.

"He'll be along shortly, I wanted to speak to you both in private first. Particularly Commander Rose." Nihlus said, amused.

"Why would that be Spectre?" Ruby asked calmly, though her body seemed coiled, ready to strike.

"You intrigue me Rose. Your past is one of note, many things stand out. From the beginning, through to now. You've both weaved a large tale, though it's not complete. I'm curious to see where it goes from here." Nihlus said weirdly.

"Perhaps it's time to tell them what the mission really is." Qrow said, coming through the briefing room door and entering the room.

"What are you talking about?" Neo asked, turning to look at the man.

"Nihlus is here to evaluate you kiddo, sorry, Ruby. He's here to evaluate you in the field. We're here on Eden Prime to retrieve a Prothean artefact that had been dug up on the surface, a beacon to be exact." Qrow explained.

"Yes sir, may I ask why me though?" Ruby asked, speaking up.

"The Captain has shown me your records, and while Commander Neo yours is no less outstanding. Commander Rose has shown that she will get the job done, no matter the cost. He's spoken of your character, so I'm here to evaluate you and depending on the outcome you may be inducted into the Spectre program." Nihlus explained.

A million thoughts shot through Ruby's mind at that, and she looked impassive on the outside. Not revealing what she thought, though Neo could read her and gently grabbed her arm and squeezed to bring Ruby back.

"Politics. Humanity would be taking a step forward, that's all they care about. But just think." Neo said softly, though the others in the room heard and while it was true to a point they all knew the truth.

"I understand." Ruby replied, but just then Joker came over the intercom.

"Captain, Joker. We just got a direct link from Eden Prime, and um…you need to see it." Joker said, he sounded somewhat worried.

"Put it up on screen." Qrow said, turning his attention to the screen.

The four of them watched as the sounds of battle and screams of pain came onto the screen, a cry for help broken up by static and then shaky footage of some ship before it cut off.

Qrow's keen eye picked out a time in the video and froze it there, revealing the almost squid like ship in the air that looked impossible.

"What is that?" Qrow mumbled.

"I don't know." Neo replied, while Ruby seemed to just stare at the image.

"I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." Ruby said huskily, staring at the image and her words caused a chill to go through the air, everyone shivering.

They all turned to the woman, seeing her eyes glowing slightly. "Ruby?" Neo said, snapping Ruby out of whatever it was she was in.

"Joker! Get a strike team assembled and in the hanger immediately! And set condition one throughout the ship." Ruby ordered in quick succession, getting an encouraging nod from Qrow.

"Let's move. We need boots on the ground yesterday." Ruby said, the two women almost sprinting out of the room, though they had no need to do so as they were fully armed.

It took thirty minutes, much too long in Ruby's opinion to reach Eden Prime. Kaiden, Jenkins and Neo were all suited up and ready.

"The beacon is your priority; survivors are purely secondary. We're running silent so no contact unless you must. When you've secured the beacon, radio for pick up and we'll swing by again." Qrow explained to them all, over the noise of the air rushing past the opened hanger door.

Ruby and Neo held a closed fist to each other, shaking it three times before making a shape. Neo went with paper, while Ruby went scissors.

"My command." Ruby said with a slight smile.

"Spectre, aren't you joining us?" Jenkins asked, hearing them approaching the first drop point.

"I move faster on my own. We'll rendezvous at the dig site." Nihlus replied.

The two women shared a look between each other, understanding passing between them. "I'm going with you." Ruby stated, moving closer to Nihlus.

"I work alone Commander." Nihlus replied immediately, annoyed.

"You're here to evaluate me, so let's go. Haven't got time to waste." Ruby said easily, she was in her element now and could easily talk.

"Fine. Let's move." Nihlus said and once Joker confirmed they were at the drop point they jumped.

Ruby pulled her hood up and followed Nihlus, as soon as her feet hit the ground she raised her weapon to her shoulder and checked her surroundings.

"It's clear. Let's move." Nihlus stated, "Take point."

Moving forward Ruby went in front Nihlus and led the way, they came across a series of dead bodies. Killed by some sort of plasma based weaponry.

"Don't recognise the bullet type, looks plasma based but I'm not entirely sure." Ruby said as she took a knee next to a body to look at the wounds.

"Got it. Let's move on, we need to secure the beacon." Nihlus reminded her.

Leading once more, Ruby moved through the colony with a stony silence. Ignoring the bodies around them and they didn't face any foe until they saw people impaled on these weird spikes.

"What the…" Ruby managed to say before the spikes started to retract and some sort of blue hued husks started to run towards them.

Ruby jumped back, weapon coming up into her shoulder with the trigger being pulled before it was fully aimed. The first bullet tore through the creature's stomach, but it didn't deter the creature as Ruby brought her weapon to aim at the head, and with another pull of the trigger the creature fell to the ground and stayed down.

Nihlus had already killed the other one, and the last one fell to Ruby's Omni-blade that flared to life as she dismembered it.

"What the fuck are they? They look like humans, or used to be humans." Ruby stated, looking curiously at the creature and took out a combat knife to try and discover more about it.

"Let's move. You can dissect them later." Nihlus stated, urging them forward.

"Got it." Ruby said, standing up once more and as they advanced over the next ridge towards more buildings they saw the cause of all the destruction.

They watched as two robots laid a human down on the spike, said human attempting to fight back but failing as he was placed on the spike and was impaled.

"Fire and advance!" Ruby called out, already killing one of the robots before moving on to the next. Her shields flared up as bullets hit them but she just shrugged them off.

"Rose! Get down!" Nihlus called out, but was ignored as Ruby did the opposite.

Her body flared up in a red hue, her biotics coming into power as she charged forward. Smashing one of the robots outright from the power of her charge, and Omni-blade deployed on her left and she removed the head of another before shooting a final one.

"Geth…fucking Geth." Ruby mumbled to herself, having recognised what the robots were.

"This is weird. They haven't been out of the Veil in decades, why now?" Nihlus voiced.

Before Ruby could respond a loud droning sound echoed around them all and they looked to see the massive ship taking off from the surface.

"That's not possible, surely a ship that large can't land let alone take off like that." Ruby stated.

"Seems we've got a lot of unanswered questions, but it looks like it was at the docks. We should head there and investigate." Nihlus said.

"Understood." Ruby said, raising a hand up to her ear, "Ground team, ground team. Scout One, report." Ruby said over the short-wave radio.

"Scout One, we have One KIA but picked up a survivor from the 212th moving to the dig site now. We've come across Geth, be advised." Neo replied.

"Copy Ground team, we've encountered them as well. Watch the spikes, they're hostile. We're moving to the docks, secure the dig site and we'll rendezvous when we can. Out." Ruby said, cutting the connection. "Let's move."

The pair moved silently, working together easily and using hand signals instead of talking. But they didn't encounter anymore Geth but heard fighting coming from the other team, and if the explosions were anything to go by then they were heavily engaged.

Reaching the docks, they found it near deserted, and while Nihlus went down to the main cargo area to look around, Ruby remained searching the living buildings around the area, finding out that was locked.

As she was working through the hack, she looked over to check on Nihlus and saw him talking with another Turian, who was slowly raising his weapon to the back of Nihlus' head.

 **A/N**

 **I apologise for taking so long in updating this, I've had a few things happen that's just put me off from doing too much but I'm sort of getting back into things.**

 **This will go back to weekly updates now though, and I'm working on something else out of my comfort zone so that'll be interesting to see.**

 **Anyway, not much more I want to say, so until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3-**

As she was working through the hack, she looked over to check on Nihlus and saw him talking with another Turian, who was slowly raising his weapon to the back of Nihlus' head.

Time slowed down for Ruby, a dark blue hue, faint enough to reveal it wasn't biotics but something of note. Formed around the other Turian.

Ruby's body flared and she charged, Omni-blade already activated and her weapon had fallen to her side on its sling.

Her blade cut through the pistol, causing Nihlus to turn around in surprise to see the Turian he was speaking to had been about to shoot him, if it wasn't for the timely intervention of Ruby.

Angling her body to the side, her other Omni-blade was in the middle of deploying and caught the Turian across the face, and by the time Ruby rolled on the ground both blades were deployed and ready to strike.

"Let's dance." Ruby said, smirking underneath her hood.

"Get them!" The Turian yelled and both were forced to take cover as the Geth opened fire on them.

Ruby raised her blades to block some of the fire as she got to more solid cover. "Fucker." Ruby barked out, watching as the other Turian ran under the cover of Geth fire. "Who the fuck was that?" Ruby asked.

"His name is Saran, he's a Spectre." Nihlus replied shakily, rising to fire.

"What the fuck? He was about to shoot you." Ruby called out, seeing that the tram was leaving, "Trams going, he's escaping to the main dockyard. He's after something."

"We need to end this and get after him." Nihlus called.

"I know. Hold on." Ruby said, pulling a grenade out of a pouch, she set it for flash and took a few moments to throw it in the air. "MOVE!" Ruby shouted.

Immediately both rose out of cover, firing as they moved. They moved from cover to cover, taking out the Geth with every few shots.

As they got to the last cover they had a larger Geth to deal with, so moving out together they both stood up and started to fire at it. The shields taking a large amount of damage and it was advancing on Nihlus.

Glowing red once more, Ruby threw the Geth as it fired again at Nihlus. And while it was in the air she threw a warp at it causing the robot to explode.

"Nihlus. You ok?" Ruby called out, moving towards the last place she saw the Turian.

"Fuck!" Ruby cried out, seeing the Turian hurt and bleeding on the floor. "Stay with me." Ruby mumbled to herself as she applied medi-gel to the bullet hole. He'd been hit a couple times in the chest but it hadn't pierced the armour while a couple had hit his head, mostly grazing hits but one had caught his mouth.

Once the medi-gel was applied Ruby pulled out physical bandages and applied them to his jaw to make sure it stayed still.

"This is scout one, hailing Normandy. I repeat, scout one hailing Normandy. Respond." Ruby called into her radio.

After gaining no response, even after trying again she instead hailed Neo. "Ground team, respond." Ruby said.

"Ground team, what have you got?" She heard Neo asked.

"Nihlus is down. Hurt badly, I'm putting a marker up and going to the docks. We're at the tram station." Ruby explained.

"Hold on, we're close by. Stay there and we'll link up." Neo replied.

It was only a few minutes before the rest of the team arrived, a short nod towards the woman in pink and white armour. "Jenkins?" Ruby asked.

A small shake of her head was all the confirmation she needed to give but instead of dwelling on it she changed the topic, "Nihlus?" Neo asked.

"Seriously hurt, stabilised him but I've had no contact with the Normandy." Ruby informed them all.

"What happened exactly?" Kaiden asked.

"Another Turian, named Saran was about to shot him in the back of the head, I managed to charge in and stop him, even caught the fucker across the face with a blade. He escaped on the tram, we got pinned by Geth and a bigger one came forward, managed to disable his shields and got through his armour." Ruby explained.

"Right, what do we do now?" Neo asked next.

"We'll have to take him with us, we'll follow after Saran and secure the Beacon before contacting the Normandy again." Ruby ordered.

"How are we going to do that?" Williams asked, confused how they would carry the Turian.

Ruby flared red again as Nihlus lifted gently into the air, covered in a red field that was carrying him. "Let's move. Neo on point." Ruby ordered.

They fought through the Geth easily, though annoyed that Saran had escaped. To the two other soldiers, Kaiden and Williams. They watched almost in awe as the two women using biotics destroyed any Geth in their way.

Easily able to keep Nihlus afloat, the pair threw warps, pulls, throws and even singularities at the Geth, making easy pickings for the two soldiers to fire or even make biotic explosions.

Reaching the main docks, they discovered the bombs, Ruby and Kaiden moved about disarming them while the other two women covered them while they did so.

Finally clearing the entire area, Ruby contacted the Normandy, finally getting a response from the ship she began relaying the situation when she heard someone call out.

"Kaiden! Watch out!" Williams yelled, and Ruby turned on a pin to see the marine being lifted towards the Beacon.

Neo was too far away as she was checking over Nihlus, and Williams was worried about getting pulled in as well.

Ruby raced forward, grabbing Kaiden around the stomach and throwing him back but it didn't stop Ruby from being pulled in by the Beacon.

"RUBY!" Neo screamed out, racing towards Ruby who was being pulled into the air by the Beacon.

Williams stopped Neo, and thanked whatever powers may be that Neo was too distressed to think about using her biotics to break free and with Kaiden's added help they managed to stop her from going further.

Ruby felt weightless as the Beacon lifted her into the air, no one, not even herself noticed that her eyes glowed more than normal as her mind was filled with images.

 _Squid like creatures, like that of the ship in the air above the docks earlier. They numbered in their hundreds of thousands raining down upon planets._

 _Screams, the pain of billions dying echoed around her head. She saw the death, destruction of an entire race to whatever these beings were. A cry for help, desperate and unheard as those that were receiving the messages had already died. Save for a few hiding._

The message was fragmented in her mind; not completely clear only images were received but somehow, she felt the entire message.

The next thing she felt was her body being thrown in the air and that was it, black invaded her vision as she was rendered unconscious.

* * *

 _She didn't know how long it had been since she was pulled in by the Beacons, seconds, minutes, hours…days? She just didn't know; the images were just replaying in her head._

 _A flash of silver, brief but there. The images stopped, and another pulse of silver before everything changed to a white landscape and in front of her was an odd looking four eye alien. Looking almost like the rumoured Collectors._

" _Who are you?" Ruby asked, her voice rough and seemingly bouncing around everywhere at once, causing an echo effect._

" _Hello Ruby Rose. My name is Javier, a Prothean. I have come to tell you of the last cycle, and who leads the fight against the Reapers." The female Prothean said, her voice echoing the same as Ruby's._

" _You're special; no one is born with natural silver eyes. Only one person, each cycle they chose someone. I was the last." Javier said._

" _What are you talking about? Could you tell me?" Ruby asked, taking a step towards the woman._

" _Let me show you." The woman said, what looked like a smile on her face as she walked backwards into the light._

 _Unsure what to do, but the desire to know outweighed anything else. She followed the woman into the light to see what it was she wished to show Ruby._

* * *

"How is she?" Neo asked for what felt like the tenth time.

"The same as before, unconscious but fine. She didn't suffer any injuries from the explosion and she can wake up at any point." Glynda Goodwitch, the ships doctor explained.

"Right." Neo said softly, staying next to Ruby's bed as she waited for the woman to wake up. "What about Nihlus?"

"He's more serious, once we get to the Citadel the Spectre medical personnel will take him but he's stabilised but he'll be weak for a little while." Glynda explained.

Neo nodded in reply, not voicing her thoughts which were interrupted by the door opening. Turning to the door she saw Kaiden walking in, asking how Ruby was doing.

As Glynda explained the situation Neo took note that Ruby moved slightly and a faint glow was covering her body. "She's waking up." Neo called and took a step back.

Neo and Glynda moved away, making Kaiden follow their steps as they watched Ruby wake up sharply, an Omni blade forming and stabbing into the air in front of her before it vanished and Ruby was breathing heavily.

Neo moved forward first, standing at Ruby's side to calm her down and make her realise where exactly she was.

"How long was I out?" Ruby asked tiredly, not sure where exactly they were.

"Twelve hours, we're on our way to the Citadel. Almost there as well." Glynda informed her and went about making checks to see if she was alright.

"Nihlus?" Ruby asked.

"Stable but hurt, he can wake up at any point now." Glynda stated.

"Right." Ruby said softly, closing her eyes as she regained herself.

"Hey kiddo, you're up." Qrow stated, walking into the room. "Is she fit?" He asked.

"I can't find anything wrong, some abnormal brain waves as she slept but otherwise she's healthy." Glynda said.

"Good. What happened Ruby?" Qrow asked with concern.

"I don't know…I pulled Alenko out of the way and then the Beacon took me…it gave me a vision…a message, I think…I think the Prothean's were trying to warn people. Of something they call the Reapers. I just saw death, destruction. The pain of an entire race." Ruby started to explain, unsure how much to reveal.

"Could we have the room please?" Qrow asked, feeling that his niece needed time alone but also so he could talk about the more sensitive side of things.

"Understood, we'll be just outside." Glynda said, taking the marine out with her as she left the three alone.

Neo didn't make a move to leave, they all knew the pair were close to inseparable and shared everything together. So, her remaining in the room during things like this was normal.

"Saran, the other Turian. He's a Spectre. The council's golden boy, if…when Nihlus wakes up to confirm it, the council will have no choice but to go after him." Qrow informed them.

"Understood." Ruby said calmly, keeping it simple.

"We're about an hour to an hour and a half out from the Citadel so get some food and gear up. We're meeting the ambassador once we're there." Qrow told them both as he left the room.

"I'll get us some food; could you speak to the doc about getting a couple clean needles?" Ruby asked Neo softly, and the shorter woman simply nodded her head as she understood what was being asked.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Sorry for taking so long, things have been a little hectic currently and life's been…shitty in a way but here's another chapter and I'll be posting more I promise and I'm working on several other things but no idea what I want to continue doing but hopefully I'll have some new stuff ready and completed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4-**

Ruby left the med-bay and immediately spotted Kaiden and Williams, but she simply ignored the two as they tried to get her attention and went to sort out food for Neo and herself.

Grabbing four MRE packs made specifically for Biotics, she entered the lift and headed down to the cargo bay.

Heading to a secluded spot hidden away from the others in the cargo bay, they didn't want to get disturbed as was the norm with them after a mission, especially when one of them gets hurt.

"Want to go first?" Neo asked as she sat down opposite Ruby with the equipment.

"Sure." Ruby replied softly, removing her shirt and turning around to face the wall so Neo could see her back.

Across her back were names, it started with names of her family and then other seemingly random names written across her back.

Neo prepared a spot underneath the last name to be placed there and quietly got to work writing out Jenkins name on her back while Ruby started to eat.

Once Neo was done they swapped around so Ruby wrote the name on Neo's back, whose list was shorter than Ruby's, but many names remained the same.

Once they were both finished they sat there quietly as they finished off the food before simply sitting there together, leaning against one another.

"What did you really see?" Neo asked.

"Somethings coming. Something big. I…I think whatever wiped out the Prothean's is coming back and this is just the start." Ruby said softly, hints of fear in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Neo asked.

"That ship we saw, that's just the vanguard. There's more of them." Ruby answered, causing Neo to hug her as the fear in her voice was evident.

"Commander Gelato, Commander Rose. Please report to the bridge. I repeat, Commander's Gelato and Rose to the bridge." A voice called over the intercom.

"That's our cue, will you be alright?" Neo asked.

"I'll be fine; we better gear up." Ruby said, slowly standing up and heading over to her locker.

Neo followed Ruby and both started to pull their weapons and armour on before heading up to the bridge.

"Just in time Commander's, we're approaching the Citadel now." Joker informed the two of them as they looked out to see the large space station bustling with traffic.

"Look at that ship!" Williams said, spotting the Destiny Ascension. "Its main weapons could tear through any ship in the Alliance." Williams continued to gush over it.

"Size isn't everything." Joker commented, and William's couldn't help but make a comment at it.

It didn't take long after that initial reaction to seeing all the Citadel fleets they docked and were on their way to meet the Ambassador with the ground team.

"Ambassador, we will discuss this in our session, not before." Tevos, the Asari councillor stated and then the holograms cut out.

"Captain, it seems you have brought your entire crew." The Ambassador, Roman Torchwick remarked as he took in everyone.

"Why am I not surprised Red, you're always the one causing me problems." Roman stated as he spotted Ruby leading her ground team.

"It wasn't her fault Roman and you know it, it was Saran. Hell we have a spectre in intensive care because of him." Qrow said, defending Ruby.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is, it's happened and as usual I've got to deal with the mess." Roman responded, "The session starts in an hour, I'll make sure you've got authorisation to reach the council chambers. Don't be late Commander. You're dismissed, Qrow stay here we need to talk." Roman stated, dismissing them all easily.

"Right." Ruby said, leaving the room with the others on her heel. As soon as the door closed though William's spoke up.

"I hate that guy; all politicians are just bad news." William's spat out.

"At least he's on our side." Neo replied, trying to ease the situation.

"I've got something to do, we'll meet at the cabs in forty-five minutes." Ruby stated and left the group without saying anything else.

"Where's she going?" Kaiden asked.

"Something she needs to do, come on let's explore a little. I haven't been to the Citadel for a while." Neo replied and went ahead with walking towards a terminal only to get called out by someone.

"Chief Williams, Chief." A man was calling out and the trio stopped just in front of him and Neo listened intently to the man's plight and it didn't stop Neo from getting angry at hearing how his wife's body was being held.

"We'll deal with this Sir, please stay here. We won't be long." Neo promised and immediately set out about hunting down the man who was dealing with all of this.

It was easier said than done though as Neo found where the man was alongside the fact that there were others in the bar that meant she couldn't make too much of a scene but it was too much.

"Look, I don't care how you do it or who you piss off. But you will release the body into the care of her husband for burial or the next time you see me it'll be of the other end of a gun. Do I make myself clear?" Neo stated, getting right into the man's face and the bar went silent at her words as everyone heard.

"Y….yes Ma'am." The man stammered out, struggling to get the words out.

"Well why are you still standing here then?" Neo asked and immediately the man hurried to get away from Neo and clearly to get everything sorted.

"Damn, remind me not to make you angry." Kaiden stated.

"William's, go and tell him that he should have his wife's body within the hour. If he has any more problems tell him to contact me directly." Neo ordered as she stormed out of the bar but not back towards the central area.

Twenty minutes later they met up with Ruby at the taxi ranks and Ruby simply raised her eyebrow at Neo's pissed off look but chose not to comment on it.

"Come on, as much as I'd like to piss Torchwick off I don't want to piss the council off…much." Ruby commented with hints of a smile on her lips as they all climbed inside.

"So, Commander, where did you go off to?" Kaiden bravely asked.

"I had to go meet someone, they requested my presence." Ruby answered calmly as she relaxed into the seat.

They quickly arrived at the main tower and immediately started heading up towards the council chambers but stopped when they saw two Turian's arguing with each other, seemingly over the Saran case.

Once one had walked off though the other turned to face the group and immediately spoke, "Hello Commander's Gelato and Rose. My name's Garrus Varkian, I'm the C-sec office heading up the investigation into Saran." Garrus introduced himself to them all.

"How's that going? Seems we've got him rather dead to rights." Neo asked.

"We would if Nihlus was awake but sadly he isn't, still unconscious so I've been trying to find anything on him but everything he touches becomes classified because he's a bloody Spectre." Garrus said, angry and annoyed at the lack of progress.

"Well regardless, thank you. Hopefully the council will listen. But we better hurry, don't want to keep them waiting." Neo answered for them as Ruby fell rather quiet.

"I won't keep you. Good luck." Garrus said and the group carried on going.

They all nodded and immediately started heading up the steps where Captain Qrow caught them.

"Come on, they're already starting." Qrow said as he brought them all up there and immediately they spotted Saran looking down on them all.

Ruby smirked up at him, "Why hello again, that looks like a pretty nasty wound there. I wonder how that happened." Ruby couldn't help but remark, knowing she was the cause of said wound.

"It was on a mission that I received this wound, not whatever you're thinking of. As if a human could get that close to me." Saran fired back

"How about you come here and face me, we'll see what you're like without an army of Geth to hide behind." Ruby shot back, clenching her hands at her side and Neo immediately spotted the signs of Ruby's anger.

Gently Neo placed her hand on Ruby's back, offering a little comfort but to also remind her of just where she was and who she was in front of.

"If you're both done, how about we carry on with the session." The Salarian councillor said quickly, moving them on.

The rest of the meeting devolved into a pissing contest between Roman and the councillors alongside Saran who just shot down any attempts to implicate him before cutting the communication.

At the end of it all though the council said that unless any new evidence came up or Nihlus woke up but until then nothing more could be done, and Ruby would not be inducted into the Spectres.

"You just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?" Roman immediately said as soon as they were clear.

"Hey, don't pin the blame on her. It was all Saran's doing and the council refused." Qrow said.

"Oh, don't get me started on you, I knew it was a bad idea to bring you there, especially with your history with Saran." Roman threw out.

"What does he mean?" Ruby asked, looking towards her uncle.

"Don't worry kid. We need to find a way to get Saran, can't trust Nihlus to wake up at a good time." Qrow said.

"As a spectre, Saran is pretty much untouchable, but I have some contacts that might come in handy, a C-sec officer named Harkin should be a good source." Roman tried.

"I wouldn't bother, he's a drunk and he's been suspended more times than I can count. If you go looking, try Chora's Den." Qrow replied.

"Any other leads?" Ruby asked.

"You could try Barla Von, I know you're friendly with him." Qrow suggested while referring to the fact that Ruby and Neo both dealt with him in a few ways. Partly the Shadow Broker part but more so in the financial support ways and trusting the Volus with their money.

"We'll try Harkin first and then go see Barla afterwards, we should see about some of our investments." Ruby answered.

"Alright then, you're dismissed. If you need anything I'll be at the Embassy." Qrow said, dismissing them effectively as he turned around to leave.

"So, Chora's den then? What is it?" William's asked.

"A bar but also a lap dance place." Neo supplied for the woman as they headed back to the taxi ranks.

"Of course, the man would hang out there. Thousands of miles from Earth and they still just go to stare at scantily clad women." William's said in response to that.

"Not a fan of that sort of thing then?" Kaiden asked.

"No. There's so much better things they could be doing and I just don't understand the need for them to just sit there and stare at anything with a pair of tits." William's shot back.

As they landed near Chora's den the discussion between the two carried on though Ruby and Neo just tuned it out.

As they turned to the concourse leading across towards Chora's den though Ruby's shield immediately flared up as it absorbed an impact.

"CONTACT!" Neo yelled as he started to pull her pistol up to return fire as her shields flared as well but Ruby beat all three of them to it.

Ruby's biotics erupted around her body as she charged across the gap, smashing into one of their assailants like a truck and he flew back into the wall behind him.

Turning around Ruby's Omni-blade activated and she cut the Turian's throat like a hot knife in butter once she was sure he was dead, she faced the Turian she crashed into and Neo was immediately by her side, pistol aimed at his head. "Who sent you?!" Neo shouted at him.

The Turian remained rather tight-lipped as he refused to say anything to them but it was William's that noted the weapons they used. "These weapons, they're top of the range." William's noted.

"Spectre grade gear." Kaiden finished filling in.

"So, it was Saran that sent you." Neo asked, watching his reaction carefully.

"Thanks." Ruby said, pistol barking in her hand as the back of the Turian's head blew out.

"Come on, let's see Harkin." Ruby said, putting her pistol back in its holster and blade away.

"Wait. What about the bodies?" Kaiden asked.

"It's the lower markets and just outside a club that's shady. They won't want C-sec wondering around here so they'll be gone shortly." Neo replied, not caring too much about the dead, especially considering that they tried to kill them all.

"You take care of Harkin; I've got to speak to someone else here." Ruby said as she made out towards a Turian in the club.

"Who's that?" William's asked.

"No idea. Come on, as much as I like the female form I just want to get on with this." Neo said offhandedly as she went towards a man in a c-sec uniform in the back.

"Are you Harkin?" Neo asked as she approached the man.

"If you're asking sexy, then I'll be whoever you want me to be." The man said in a sleazy tone.

"Yeah, you're Harkin alright. We're looking at Saran, apparently, you might have some leads." Neo said, ignoring his earlier comments.

"Oh, you're a part of Qrow's crew, I wonder. Has the old man ever told you his past with Saran?" Harkin said, trying to distract them.

"No, he hasn't. But just tell us what we want to know and we'll be gone." Neo said, attempting to avoid the topic.

"Well you see Qrow was up for being a Spectre, Saran was supposed to be evaluating him but the mission went sideways and well, it ended rather badly. And Qrow never became a Spectre." Harkin said.

Tiring of the distractions Neo drew her pistol and slapped it on the table. "Information. On Saran and the investigation into him." Neo said forcefully.

"Alright, calm down. Garrus Vakarian was heading up the investigation, supposedly he was onto something big and went to get some more information from a clinic run by Dr. Michel, he would have gone to see her." Harkin finally answered.

"Finally. Hope to never see you again." Neo said, leaving the man alone in his drinking as she waited by the entrance for Ruby to come back.

"Sorted. Got to go to the embassies shortly to deal with something, what did you learn?" Ruby said to them all.

"Garrus Vakarian, ran into him earlier. Supposedly he has found some information on Saran and heading to a clinic." Neo explained.

"Come on, I've got a bad feeling about this." Ruby said, hurrying them to a taxi again to move to the next location.

"It'll be quicker to walk, it's not far." Neo said, leading them away to somewhere else and going through the lower markets and to an elevator.

"It'll be quicker she said." Ruby commented lightly.

"Not my fault elevators are slow on the Citadel." Neo shot back playfully.

"Wouldn't surprise me if it was." Ruby said lowly.

Before it could go any further though William's interrupted them with a burning question.

"Where did you go off to earlier? And then in the club?" William's asked.

"I got a message from the Asari Consort, she wanted to meet with me so I did. She's been having some issues so I agreed to help. That Turian I spoke to in the club, he was a little…put out after the Consort didn't return his feelings for a more romantic life. I simply spoke to him as a soldier and he agreed to put anything he had aside the only problem is that he let someone know who's at the embassy is rather annoyed so I've got to go and sooth the issue." Ruby explained, not hiding what she was doing.

"Wait. How do you know the consort? I hear she's got a three-month waiting list to just be seen." Kaiden exclaimed.

"Connections. Someone thought I might benefit from seeing her, we became friends." Ruby answered cryptically.

No more questions could be asked as they finally arrived at the main market area, "Let's move." Ruby said as she moved with a purpose and started heading straight towards the clinic as her Omni informed her of its location.

As they approached the door though Neo stopped them all and put a finger to her lips. Listening for almost a minute until she said, "Inside, three maybe four hostiles with guns. Docs in there, I can hear her talking to them." Neo said as everyone took out their weapons.

"Right, stack up. William's, you go left with me. Neo, Kaiden you've got the right. Stand by." Ruby ordered in quick fashion as they all moved to the sides of the door as they got ready. With Ruby and Neo with their pistols out and ready.

 **A/N**

 **I know, I've take a while to update. Especially considering that this is all already written I've just got to divide it up and post it.**

 **But a lot has happened since I last updated, I went to RTX London and met some amazing people there and hopefully I've got some friends that'll last. It was a great weekend and I can't wait for next year to go again.**

 **I'll be posting a couple things up over the next few days of stuff I'm working on that I want to show off alongside the opening for the Immortal Maiden sequel, which I'm still working on sometimes.**

 **Anyway until next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5-**

Ruby held up her hand and counted down from three and on zero Kaiden opened the door and the group moved into the room with their weapons trained and ready.

"What the hell?!" One of them yelled out and immediately moved to grab the doctor but at the same time, Garrus popped up and shot the man straight through the brain, right next to the doctor's head.

The woman screamed as she ducked down and attempted to cover her head from danger as she cried out.

"Get them!" One of the other attackers yelled out but as soon as the weapon was raised he was killed with a bullet to the chest and head.

The others soon engaged as well, with William's and Kaiden both taking down another attacker with their assault rifles as Neo charged forward and struck the man before ending him with a pistol shot as he attempted to recover from the biotic charge.

"Nice timing Commander's, gave me a clear shot on that bastard." Garrus said as he came over to them.

"Williams, check the doctor." Ruby barked out, "You could have shot the doctor if you missed, especially with such a snap shot like that. Do that shot again and it might not be as lucky next time." Ruby chastised, angry at the risk.

"I'm sorry. Dr Michel, are you alright?" Garrus asked, immediately realising his mistake.

"It is alright Mr Vakarian. I am fine." The doctor replied, waving off William's concern.

"So, what was it that those guys wanted?" Neo asked.

"They were thugs working for Fist." The doctor explained.

"Fist?" Kaiden asked.

"Shadow broker agent who runs Chora's den." Ruby answered.

"Right. He was interested in looking for a Quarian I treated who has information about Saran and his involvement on Eden Prime. She wanted to trade with the shadow broker." The doctor answered.

"Right. So, to find Fist then, before that meet." Ruby said.

"There's a problem though. Fist isn't an agent of the Shadow Broker anymore, he sided with Saran and cut his ties, it's why she's not safe." Garrus explained.

"Right. So, let's go get Fist, hopefully we can beat him to the Quarian." Neo said.

"There's a Krogan bounty hunter after Fist, we could get him to help." Garrus suggested.

"I know him, saw him at the club. Neo, want to talk to Barla or do you want the Krogan, Wrex?" Ruby asked.

"Wait, what could Barla possibly have for us now?" Kaiden asked.

"Nothing but we need to speak to him regarding other issues, so which will it be?" Ruby answered.

"I'll take Wrex, you're always good at talking with Barla and plus the investment stuff goes over my head sometimes." Neo replied, smirking at Ruby.

"Right. Let's meet by the taxi point outside Chora's, let's say an hour?" Ruby suggested.

"An hour, let's go." Neo said, and everyone followed her as Ruby went off on her own.

As Neo started leading them all towards C-sec headquarters or at least one of them, she was answering Garrus' questions.

"Does she normally just go off on her own?" Garrus asked.

"Sometimes. Depends on what we're doing but if you're wondering if she works well with a team, you have no issues." Neo answered.

Garrus remained quiet as they exited the elevator and approached the only Krogan there who was arguing with an officer.

"You Wrex?" Neo asked, the Krogan was a giant next to her short frame but that didn't matter to Neo as she easily stared him down.

"And what if I am?" Wrex rumbled out.

"Commander Gelato, I hear you're going after Fist." Neo said.

"I'll give you the same warning I gave to them officers. Stay the hell out of my way if you know what's good for you." Wrex warned.

"I'm not planning on getting in your way, I want Fist as well but before you kill him I'd like to actually speak to him. I was thinking we could team up, much better then you going in all alone or me getting there first and killing him." Neo said, standing tall next to the deadly Krogan.

Wrex stared down at the small woman, mismatched eyes staring right back at him and something seemed to stand out to him, so much so that she barked out a laugh.

"I like you human." He laughed, "Alright. I'll help you, but after that we part ways." Wrex said.

"Agreed. Now we are to meet with our leader, Commander Rose." Neo said, leading them all back up the elevator and towards Chora's den.

On the way there though Kaiden asked Neo, "So did you and Commander Rose meet at the academy? You work together seamlessly." Kaiden asked.

"No, we didn't actually but before that. I uh, sort of broke into her house or rather Captain Qrow's house." Neo answered sheepishly, remembering the day as if it was yesterday.

* * *

 _She had scoped this place out for well over a month. She knew who it belonged to. Captain Qrow of the alliance but she had seen him leave the week before and he hadn't been back which meant he was on deployment which meant the house was empty._

 _But she gave a week's grace period just in case but since he left there had been no movement of any kind in the house, nothing changed so she carefully moved up the building until she reached the man's bedroom window._

 _She carefully checked for any sort of security systems set up, but she found none or the ones there had been deactivated for some reason._

 _He probably forgot to set it up, Neo thought to herself as she listened out for any noises inside the flat but found none so far. That was one thing she liked about her hearing, she could hear through windows and doors to the point she could be accurate on the number of people inside._

 _Gently prying open the window she slipped through noiselessly as her heeled boots made no sound on the floor. She closed the window silently but made sure she could still make a quick escape out of it just in case._

 _Once certain she was alone, Neo carried on through the bedroom to start her job but before she could even pick up anything she heard a slight noise._

 _It was nothing, barely even there but Neo knew that any little sound could give her away and she didn't know what it was that caused the sound, so she remained still and silent as she listened out for it again._

 _There! She could hear it, it was barely there but it was there nonetheless. As the minutes slowly went by she slowly tracked the source of the sound down and what she saw surprised her._

 _Buried underneath a mountain of bedding, which Neo was hesitant to move because of the crying that was coming from underneath it all but something in her told her to move the bedding instead of just leaving as silently as she entered._

 _So carefully Neo slowly removed it all until she was faced with a brunette-haired woman with red highlights in her hair, silver eyes hidden beneath rivers of water and a frightened look as she took in the woman above her, but then something changed in her look._

 _It changed from being frightened to one of hope as she bolted forward and latched onto Neo, crying into her shoulder._

 _Unsure what compelled her, Neo raised her arms up and hugged the woman as best she could, although with the height difference it was a little awkward, but she just hugged the woman and offered whatever comfort she could._

 _What she didn't know at the time was just what a life altering event this was and how much would change because she simply decided to stay and comfort the upset woman instead of leaving._

* * *

"Wait, you broke into the Captain's house?" William's asked in shock.

"Well it was an apartment, but yes I did. It was how Ruby, and I met, and we've been inseparable ever since." Neo explained as they were pulling up, Ruby wait for them just outside. She left out the details involving Ruby in tears but that she broke into Qrow's house.

"Wrex, Ruby. Ruby, Wrex." Neo introduced briefly.

"Let's get on with it, the place is closed so they're expecting us. How should we play it?" Ruby asked the group.

"Break through the main door and follow it up with flashbangs and hit them quickly." William's suggested.

"I like it. Neo, you go right, and I'll go left. Biotic charge into the middle of them all. William's and Garrus, set up covering fire position from the entrance and break out either side to support us. Kaiden follow behind Neo and support her with biotics. Wrex, you'll be up front with me pushing through them towards Fist. Everyone got it?" Ruby said, coming up with a battle plan.

"Understood." Everyone said in their own way, though Wrex only grumbled.

Moving up together, Ruby and Neo took point leading them all up to the door. As they stood there though they all got into position as Ruby opened the door to allow Neo to through the flashbangs in.

Waiting for a second the team all pushed forward into the room. Ruby and Neo took separate routes around the centre stage, charging the first person they could see and blasting them with their shotguns before moving on.

Wrex laughed as he killed any resistance that dared to attack him, but simply failed to get anywhere close.

It barely took a minute to clear the first room, "William's, Kaiden, Garrus. Watch our backs. Rest of you, on me." Neo ordered as she led the way through into the next room.

Inside Neo easily talked the two other guards down and to leave, Ruby warning the others of the two leaving the room. In the next room however came Fist, who refused to surrender.

"Turrets won't stop me!" Ruby growled out, her body glowing red as she charged into a turret, blowing it up on pure impact alone. Moving Ruby flipped off the wall and to the other turret where her shotgun barked again and destroyed the final one before rounding on Fist, not giving him a chance as she punched him onto the ground.

"The Quarian, tell me and I might just spare you." Neo growled as she came to stand next to Ruby.

"I…I don't know." Fist cried.

"Wrong answer." Ruby said, firing at the ground right next to his leg but only just missing.

"She…she's not here. I already set up a meeting." Fist cried out.

"Where?" Neo asked, pressing her foot on his knee.

"The…the alley between the lower markets! Fuck!" Fist yelled, his knee being bent the wrong way.

"Come on, we got what we came for. He's all your Wrex." Ruby said, moving away from the crying man as Wrex walked up and finished him off with his shotgun.

"We better hurry, those will be Saran's men there." Neo stated.

"William's, we're on our way out now." Ruby radioed in.

"Copy Commander, we've been engaged by more hostiles, we're holding but some help would be nice." Williams called.

"Confirmed, coming now." Ruby said, "Let's move, we've got to fight our way through to her." Ruby said as she started moving back the way they came and once they entered the main club area they were already taking fire. "Take them down!" Ruby yelled.

Switching out to her pistol Ruby started to open fire until she got a clear line on some of them however Neo had beaten her to the punch.

Neo's biotics propelled her forward and into the mass of enemies firing at them. Her pistol and shotgun were hand in hand as she gracefully danced around the incoming fire and those bullets that managed to hit were absorbed by her shields.

Once Neo had eliminated all those remaining there she called out, "You alright?"

"We're ok. What's going on?" Kaiden asked, looking over everyone.

"Good. Quarains in the alley not far from here. Everyone on me, we need to go save her." Neo called out as she moved out the club and immediately started heading in the direction of the alley.

It barely took them a minute to get there but Neo stopped them before they engaged. "We need to hit them quickly, but at the same time. We don't want her to get shot." Neo said.

"Wrex, are you able to biotic charge?" Ruby asked.

"I can." Wrex grumbled.

"Right then, which do you want Wrex?" Neo asked.

"I'll take the Turian." Wrex said, chuckling a little as he looked down at then.

"Right, Neo go left. I'll go right." Ruby said, and the trio lined up as they found their targets. "Everyone else, cover us." Ruby finished off and within seconds the three of them charged into the enemy and within that same amount of time they killed them all. But with how quick they were, they caught the end of the flashbang that the Quarian had used.

"Are you alright?" Neo asked as she turned to the woman.

"Who are you?" The Quarian asked immediately, not releasing her weapon.

"My name is Commander Rose, and this is Commander Gelato. We're part of the Alliance but we're investigating Saran, we were told you might have some information, but we heard about this attack, so we came to help you." Ruby explained first.

"Thank you for helping me. Maybe I have a way to repay you." The Quarian said in reply.

"We heard you had information about Saran, Miss…" Neo asked, trailing off as she was unsure about her name.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Tali replied.

"Right. We heard you had information, but we wanted to get you safe first. If you come with us to our Embassy we can talk more there, if that is alright with you." Neo asked kindly.

"Alright." Tali replied.

"Let's move, double time and form a protective ring around Miss Tali'Zorah. We don't know if Saran has anyone else around." Ruby ordered as they all made it as fast as possible to the Embassy.

They made for an odd group moving through the Citadel towards the Embassy in quick time, though they weren't stopped at all but rather avoided as they made it to the human Embassy.

"You aren't making my life easy Red. Firefights in the wards and an all-out assault on Chora's Den. Do you know how many…" Roman started to say as he turned around though as he noticed Tali he asked. "Who are you?"

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Tali answered.

"So, no offence meant but what exactly are you doing here?" Roman asked.

"She has evidence proving Saran's involvement with Eden Prime." Neo answered for her.

"Really, and what would a Quarian leaving the flotilla want with something like that?" Roman asked once more.

"I was on my pilgrimage and heard about reports of the Geth, so I was curious. I managed to isolate one of the Geth from its group and salvaged the memory core." Tali explained.

"But they destroy their memories upon termination, how were you able to salvage it?" Qrow asked next, remembering that part about the Geth.

"You know a lot about the Geth don't you? And not just because of your people." Ruby asked as she spoke up.

"I was just lucky and knew where to look." Tali said modestly.

Ruby shook her head a little as she said, "Luck has nothing to do with it. You're skilful." Ruby said and Tali looked away from Ruby as she finished speaking, growing shy at the compliments.

"What is this evidence?" Roman asked as he got back on topic.

"Here. It's an audio recording." Tali said, playing an audio recording of Saran talking about Eden Prime and how it was a major victory for them and the Geth.

"We've got him dead to rights now." Qrow said enthusiastically.

"There's more." Tali said and another voice came up, this time female.

" _And one step closer to bringing back the Reapers."_ The second voice said, and everyone could see how Ruby visibly paled at hearing the voice but Roman wasn't focusing on her.

"I don't recognise the second voice. But we should go to the council immediately and present this to them. Then we'll be getting somewhere." Roman said as he went to set up a meeting and leaving everyone else to go.

"Hey, Garrus, Wrex I've got your contact information, but I think we'd better go ourselves. Thank you for our help and I'll let you know what happens, if we're going after Saran I'll contact you." Neo explained to the two who simply nodded and left.

"William's, Kaiden. Could you escort Tali, Qrow and Roman to the council chambers please, we'll be just behind you." Neo said as she dismissed them all to leave her alone with Ruby.

Once they had all left alone in the office, Neo turned to Ruby and asked. "You recognise the second voice." Neo stated bluntly.

"I do." Ruby said quietly.

"Want to share?" Neo asked, not asking Ruby to tell her but letting her know simply she was there.

"It was when I was young, my family were at Arcturus Station visiting Qrow. I got into a fight with some cadets there who were pissed at Summer, and because I was her daughter they thought to get payback they would attack me. Kids are messed up, aren't they?" Ruby said, laughing a little at the memory.

"I was about nine or ten at the time and well, my biotics decided it was time to make themselves known to me. Suffice to say that they ended up in the infirmary with several broken bones and I was scared shitless. So was everyone else as my biotics weren't blue but red and I had near perfect control over them which was strange because I had no chip or anything." Ruby continued explaining it all.

"So, what happened?" Neo asked gently.

"An Asari Matriarch was on the station at the time and she happened to be nearby when the fight broke out. She never did explain why she came over to watch but in a way, I'm glad she did. She said something a little weird to me as well when she noticed my biotics and then my eyes." Ruby continued once more.

"What was that? Admittedly I've never seen anyone with silver eyes before like yours, or biotics." Neo said.

"She said that I was the Warrior for this time. That something big was destined for me, that I was special because of my eyes and biotics. She put me in contact with another Asari Matriarch." Ruby answered.

"Who were they?" Neo asked however they were interrupted by the door sliding open and someone putting their head in.

"Commander's, the council meeting is due to start. The ambassador asked me to tell you to hurry up." The assistant said to the two women.

"Alright, come on. Let's go." Ruby said, knowing the conversation wasn't over but for now it was.

The pair made their way to the council chambers where Qrow was waiting for them, "Come on. It's already started, they're presenting the evidence now." Qrow said as the trio made their way to the stand.

" _Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."_ Saran was heard saying to the assembled councillors. _"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."_ The second voice said.

"You asked for proof and there you have it." Roman stated proudly.

"This evidence is irrefutable. Saran will be immediately stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts made to bring him to Justice." The Turian councillor said.

"What are the Reapers? And this Conduit." The Salarian councillor asked.

"Only what the Geth knew. The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished. And I can only guess that the Conduit is a way to bring them back." Tali answered.

"Who was that second voice? I don't recognise it." The Salarian councillor asked.

Neo watched them all carefully as the Asari councillor looked towards Ruby and for some reason had some sort of concern in her eyes.

"I recognise the other voice, a Matriarch called Benezia. I'm not sure what her involvement is but that is her voice, I would recognise it anywhere." The councillor answered, not adding anything else.

"You should get the Citadel Fleet to lock down the area and prevent the Geth from attacking again." Roman said immediately, demanding more of a response from the council after revoking Saran's Spectre status.

"That could start a war with the Terminus system, we can't do that." The Salarian said.

"There is another way. Subtler then a fleet." Ruby suggested to them all, cutting in before it got more heated.

The councillors all looked to each other and the Turian councillor immediately spoke up, "They're not ready." He said.

"Then send someone else. But first tell me who else is better equipped to go after them? A ship with the most advance systems in the galaxy and two of the most highly trained individuals in the galaxy right in front of you with first-hand experience fighting the Geth like this and who is also…" Ruby said, but stopped herself before she went further.

"She's right. They're the best ones to go after them and with Nihlus injured there isn't anyone close by." The Salarian said.

"Commander Rose, step forward please." The Asari councillor requested and Neo spotted more people gathering around the galleries above them and even spotted a camera or two recording it.

Ruby didn't even hesitate as she stepped forward in front of everyone else and looked up to the council, though focusing on the Asari councillor as she spoke up first.

"It is the decision of the council that you be granted all the power and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel." She started off.

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file." The Salarian councillor continued.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the council, instruments of our will." The Asari councillor said.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defence. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold." The Turian councillor said as he spoke up first.

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species." The Asari councillor said.

"It is an honour Councillor." Ruby said as she bowed her head with a hand resting on her heart.

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him." The Salarian councillor said as he issued her orders.

"Have you any leads?" Ruby asked.

"We will forward any relevant files to Ambassador Torchwick." The Turian councillor informed her.

"This meeting of the council is adjourned." The Asari councillor said.

"Congratulations kid." Qrow said as he patted Ruby's shoulder.

"We've got a lot of work to do, Red. You're going to need a ship, a crew, supplies…" Roman started trailing off.

"You'll get access to all the special equipment and training now. You should head to the C-Sec academy and speak to the Spectre requisitions officer. Look at all the shiny new toys." Qrow said cheerfully.

"Qrow, come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up." Roman said, immediately walking away with Qrow in tow.

"Ungrateful bastard." Neo said as she watched the man walked away.

"Leave it be, ever seen the man happy?" Ruby asked as she turned to her team. "Right we should head to the Spectre requisitions officer to…" Ruby said but was interrupted.

"Commander Rose, Councillor Tevos is requesting your presence in her office." An Asari asked as she walked up to the group.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **I'm sorry for taking so long to update this, admittedly this isn't an overly popular story, but it isn't any reason to not post it considering that I've already got it all written it just needs to be edited into chapters and stuff.**

 **I will be attempting to publish this more though and hopefully in the coming days I'll post more of this as well.**

 **There's another story I'm working on that I'm rather enjoying and because I'm following the main canon to a point it's not too bad to write whereas my other story is a little harder, but I want to finish my current work because I'm enjoying it.**

 **Anyway, end of my monologue. Hope you all enjoyed and until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6-**

"Right, I'll meet you all at the C-sec academy. Neo, let's go." Ruby said as she went to follow the Asari, but she stopped.

"She only requested Commander Rose, not you." The Asari said bluntly.

"She's coming with me, problem with that then tell Tevos that I won't bother." Ruby said harshly to the Asari in front of her.

"Wait one moment." She said, pulling out her Omni-tool.

"Oh, and tell her if there's another surprise waiting for me, then I've got better things to do." Ruby added as well.

"Surprise?'" Neo asked in curiosity.

"I guess I never really explained too much about the person that birthed me." Ruby said. She only told Neo the woman's name and not much else, deciding not to.

"She'll meet with you now, if you please follow me." The Asari said as she inclined her head before going.

"What do you mean? I know her name is Summer Rose, an Admiral in the Alliance but I don't know anything else." Neo replied as the two-started walking.

"That much is true. You know how she dumped me with my father after choosing to continue her career in the Alliance, she was only a Captain at the time when she had me." Ruby answered.

"After the attack on the colony Qrow was one of the first soldiers on the ground and he found me, half scared with a pistol in my hand and glowing red. Took a while to calm me down but eventually he did, what I didn't know was that one of the ships in the QRF fleet was Summer's ship and I was taken there instead of Qrow's under her order. She attempted to talk to me, but I made it seem like I was panicking to make her leave." Ruby said as she smiled bashfully at the memory.

"I see. But what does this mean about Tevos and the whole surprise thing?" Neo asked as she tried to move Ruby along.

"Right. Remember after Akuze we were on the Citadel on forced leave and staying at an apartment here. On one of those days I said I had a meeting with the council about Akuze?" Ruby asked as they headed up some stairs.

"I do. I said I could go with you, but you said it was fine and that it was a load of crap." Neo replied as she remembered the event well.

"That wasn't the complete truth. I was asked into a meeting with the Asari councillor and well, I couldn't get out of it, but I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I was asked to go alone, sorry about that." Ruby explained.

"When I arrived, I was seen quickly but with the Asari councillor was Summer, in casual clothes as she sat on the councillor's desk." Ruby finished explaining as they got to a door with two guards outside.

"Wait, so Summer and Tevos are…" But before Neo could finish her statement the door opened, and a voice called them inside.

"Ruby, it's a pleasure to see you again though I wish the circumstances were better." Councillor Tevos said as she welcomed Ruby and Neo into her office.

"Councillor." Neo said carefully as she wasn't sure how to act entirely.

"Commander Gelato, I was told to expect you to arrive with Ruby." Tevos said.

"Yes well, where Ruby goes I go." Neo said strongly.

"I know that well. Which is why I'm guessing she has told you how I know Ruby." Tevos stated.

"I was just getting to that." Ruby said as she turned to look at Neo, "Summer somehow got to know Tevos at some point, didn't really care but when I was asked to see her I was ambushed with Tevos and Summer, who I had managed to avoid quite well to this point, but I found out that Summer and Tevos were engaged at the time, and later married." Ruby stated.

"Wait. Your birth mother is married to the Asari councillor. How don't I already know this?" Neo exclaimed rather loudly.

"Because it was quite rather quiet my dear as only a couple people even got invitations to the event which was held on Thessia." Tevos explained for Ruby.

"Wait. When we had, shore leave and Qrow said we could go to Thessia, you rejected it and we went to Elysium instead. I knew you were avoiding your mother, but was that really what was going on?" Neo asked.

"Yes, it was, it was rather fortunate we were there." Ruby said as she ignored what Neo was getting at with what she avoided.

"I'm guessing you're wondering why I called you here, other than the fact that I wanted to check on you that is." Tevos asked as she steered the topic away.

"If you wouldn't mind. Not like we've got a crazy traitorous Spectre running around with an army of Geth." Ruby said bluntly.

"Right, well it's about Matriarch Benezia." Tevos stated.

"If you're worried about my ability to bring her in or do what needs to be done, you are sorely mistaken." Ruby said harshly, annoyed at the comment.

"No, of course not. I understand that you won't let personal feelings get in the way of the mission. No, it's about her daughter." Tevos quickly said.

"Daughter?" Neo asked immediately.

"Yes, she has a daughter named Liara T'Soni, my goddaughter. They've become rather estranged over the years, but she is a leading expert on the Protheans and while she is the daughter to one of your…targets I believe she will be of use to you, especially considering the Beacon you have encountered, and I am sure that her mother will want her for the same reasons, but I am not sure of what state of mind she is in." Tevos said.

"What do the other two think?" Ruby asked, no one needed to be asked what she meant by that.

"They believe she is a part of Saren's plan and would like her apprehended and interrogated to discover where her mother is." Tevos answered honestly.

"Right, we'll make her a priority. Got a last known location?" Neo asked.

"The Artemis Tau cluster but I'm sorry that I don't know any more than that." Tevos answered.

"Right, thank you for the information. Is there anything else?" Ruby asked. But as an afterthought Ruby asked, "How's Nihlus?" She asked softly.

"He's stable but doesn't show any signs of waking up for the moment. And no, I wanted to make sure you were alright and pass this information on. And please keep Liara safe." Tevos answered softly.

"Right, well thank you councillor we should make our preparations for the upcoming mission. It was a pleasure Ma'am." Neo said as she inclined her head and started to head out alongside Ruby who did the same but simply didn't speak.

"And Ruby, be safe." Tevos said as they left.

"So, Summer and Tevos huh?" Neo asked as they headed out.

"Yeah, I know, was a little weird. When I met Benezia she put me into contact with Tevos and at the time I didn't know. She was the one that brought me to Thessia to meet the head Matriarchs." Ruby said.

"At ten? But why?" Neo asked.

"Because I could control Biotics without a chip as a human. But also because of how my eyes acted." Ruby replied, "Do you remember Akuze?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, I do, almost every night." Neo said softly.

"Sorry to bring it up. Do you remember when it attempted to attack you?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, you went all crazy with your biotics and it exploded before it even got close, your eyes were a little freaky though as they glowed brightly." Neo said as she remembered the event perfectly.

"Yeah well, apparently, there's some legend in Asari culture about someone who will be born with naturally silver eyes and will have almost unlimited power in pure strength and biotics will come naturally to this person. And supposedly they will protect the galaxy against this threat that is called Messorem in the Asari language." Ruby said, a slight infliction on her tone when she used the Asari word.

"What does that mean?" Neo asked.

"You know, I never thought to look it up." Ruby said as she laughed at the thought that she never bothered with it.

"Right of course you didn't." Neo said as she rolled her eyes at Ruby as she knew how forgetful Ruby could be at times. "Hey, is that Admiral Kahoku?" Neo asked as she spotted the man getting rather angry with a terminal.

"Yeah it is, he doesn't look very happy there admittedly." Ruby said as she spotted him. "Come on, let's go see him." Ruby said as she started walking over to him.

"Admiral." Ruby and Neo said as they saluted the man.

"Commander Gelato, Commander…Spectre Rose. It's a pleasure to see you again. It seems you have been doing well, all things considered." The Admiral said, as he returned the salute but moved to shake their hands.

"It's been a while since we've seen each other, I think it was shortly after Akuze where you led the recuse team." Neo said to the man.

"It has been quite a few years, but life is clearly treating you well after everything that has happened." The man said.

"We know, though I guess it's only picking up once more now." Ruby answered.

"Seems so, a rouge spectre if I'm correct." He stated.

"That's right, we've got an idea where to start but we'll get there. We always do." Neo said.

"Of course, you two are the best soldiers I've ever seen...listen, I know your busy and I have no right, but could I ask you a favour?" The Admiral asked.

"Of course, you can, I'm guessing it has to with your angry glares at the terminal there." Ruby asked, chuckling a little with Neo.

"Yes, it is, I've been trying to get a meeting with the council, but I've been unsuccessful so far." The Admiral stated.

"What is it?" Ruby asked.

"I sent a recon team into the Sparta system to investigate suspicious activity in the area, but we lost contact with them shortly afterwards. I've heard nothing from them and I've got no one else I can send. I'm looking to the council for aid but I'm struggling." The Admiral said, clearly tired with how he had gotten nowhere.

"It's alright Admiral, we'll find the missing marines and recover what we can. We promise, we know what it's like out there." Ruby said honestly, as she already made it a mission to find out what had happened.

"That's right, no man left behind Admiral." Neo said as she knew just how important this was to the two women.

"Thank you so much, please let me know what you find." The Admiral requested.

"Of course, we will be in touch soon." Ruby said, saluting once more before the pair left the Admiral.

"Back to the Normandy? It's been a long day and I'd like to just relax." Neo said.

"Let's go." Ruby said, and the pair started to head back to the docks.

"Should we send an update to Wrex, Garrus and Tali?" Neo asked.

"Let them know we're going after Saren and ask them if they want to get involved, we'll see what Roman has come up with." Ruby said as they headed into a taxi to take them to the docks.

"Wrex is up for it, something about a worthy fight. Garrus is interested because he'd like to get away from C-Sec and all the red tape. Tali wants to help us because of the Geth, she wants to find out why they've left the Veil and see if they're a threat to her people." Neo explained as they exited the taxi while scrolling through her messages.

"Well let's see what they want." Ruby stated, inclining her head towards Roman and Qrow.

"Commander's, we've talked about what to do about a ship. Captain Qrow has stepped down from command of the Normandy and the Alliance and Council have agreed for you to command the ship for your mission." Roman explained.

"Wait. Qrow, are you sure?" Neo asked immediately.

Qrow was about to answer but Roman cut in, "It's already been decided. I've forwarded all relevant intelligence to you already, so far the only lead is Liara T'Soni…" Roman started.

"We already know, we've spoken with the Asari Councillor. You'll get reports as and when you are deemed to have sufficient clearance." Ruby said as she effectively dismissed the man who only frowned but left them alone.

Once they were sure Roman was gone Ruby immediately turned to her uncle and said bluntly, "You've been shafted by them."

"I know, we all know that but not a lot we can do. To be honest I knew the Normandy would be my last command like this, they've just been finding a way to do it and now they have. I don't care, I've got people in my corner and I'm still a soldier. But you, you kid need to stop Saren. I wasn't able to before but now you can, don't make me lose the Normandy for nothing." Qrow said as an uncharacteristic display of affection he hugged the two women before heading to the elevator.

"Oh, and kid, you get a scratch on her I'll kick your ass." Qrow called out as the elevator closed.

"So, uh, did we just get a ship?" Neo asked.

"Yeah…yeah it seems so. Um, right. Would you like to contact the others and get them on-board? Oh, and have Garrus and Tali bring food for themselves, I'll reimburse them for it." Ruby said. "Right, uh, think Qrow left some booze in his quarters…our quarters?" Ruby asked smirking.

* * *

It took several hours to get everyone back onto the ship alongside their new guests to board and get settled alongside getting resupplied at the Citadel as best they can with new gear and armour.

Finally, after everything was prepared Ruby and Neo stood behind Joker as they were preparing to launch and make their way to the Artemis Tau cluster.

"Commander's, would you like to say a few words?" Joker asked.

Ruby thought for a minute and looked at Neo, the pair debating who would speak before finally deciding that Ruby would speak.

"Put me through to the ship." Ruby said and once she received a nod from Joker she started speaking. "This is Commander Rose, I know Captain Qrow's sudden departure was unexpected and perhaps unwelcomed by people, but the fact of the matter is that it's happened, and we need to move on." Ruby said.

"We've got an important mission, to hunt down and either apprehend or eliminate the rouge Spectre Saren. It's dangerous, I won't lie to you, but it is important that we do this. Not just to protect other human colonies but the Galaxy from him, who knows what he could do with an army of Geth at his command. We will stop him; I promise you this." Ruby said firmly.

"I'd like the ground team to report to the briefing room please, and could any member of the crew who hasn't had their medical done by Doctor Goodwitch, please see her as soon as possible." Ruby finished up as she nodded for Joker to cut the connection. "Take us out, Artemis Tau cluster please. I'll have a more precise location shortly." Ruby ordered.

"Commander, I like you informing crew to complete the medical though I have not seen you yet." Doctor Goodwitch said as she came up behind the two.

"I'll come and see you after I've briefed the ground team." Ruby said.

"I'll make sure she sees you doc." Neo answered with a smile.

"See that she does." The doctor said before leaving them to go back to the med bay.

"Right, briefing time." Ruby said, sighing at now being passed command of a ship but at least Neo was there with her to help.

"Go and see the Doc, I'll handle the briefing." Neo said as she stopped Ruby outside the door to the briefing room.

"It's alright, I'll see her afterwards." Ruby said but was blocked by Neo.

"No, go now. Sooner, you get it done, the faster we can work on finding Liara." Neo said and watched as Ruby just sighed as she moved away.

"Right, let's get right into it." Neo announced as she entered the room.

"Where's Commander Rose?" Williams asked.

"Medical, she needs her check-up." Neo answered fluidly. "Any other questions?" She asked but received head shakes in return.

"Right, as you know our mission is to hunt down and either capture or kill Saren. To do this, we're following any lead we can. Currently the only lead we've got is that Matriarch Benezia, who is in league with Saren, we have an idea where her daughter is and we're going to retrieve her." Neo said as she laid out their plan for the moment.

"Is the daughter working with Saren as well?" Kaiden asked.

"Not to our knowledge. We're going to retrieve her and go from there. If she is then we'll hand her over to C-sec. However, our intelligence suggests that she hasn't been in contact with her mother for several years, so we believe that she may be hunted by her mother or Saren." Neo answered easily.

"Right then, any ideas where she is?" Tali asked.

"Nope. Closest we've got is Artemis Tau cluster, but we should have something more definitive soon." Neo answered, "Is there any more questions?" Neo asked.

"Right then, a couple questions really. Combat experience?" Neo asked as she received various answer about everyone's experience.

"Now the last bit is, has anyone deployed in a Mako before or a suborbital drop?" Neo asked.

"I've done it when I was in the military." Garrus stated.

"I have." Wrex grumbled while Williams and Tali said that they hadn't.

"Right, part of our deployments will involve this type of deployment. I want you to be warned about it and make sure you will be alright with this." Neo explained to them all and receiving nods from them she dismissed them saying, "Right, you have free reign of the ship but within reason. As this is currently a Spectre vessel you'll be fine, any issues please see either Ruby or myself." Neo said as she dismissed them all with Williams and Kaiden saluting her.

* * *

"Right, how have you been sleeping?" Doctor Glynda Goodwitch asked as she sat back down with a clipboard.

"And this has relevance how?" Ruby asked sarcastically as she continued dressing.

"Because it's for your psychological profile." The doctor stated easily.

"I had one barely a month ago, use that." Ruby said as she wasn't happy with this turn around.

"I need a new one. All my reports on your health go straight to the council and they need an updated report." Doctor Goodwitch stated.

"Shit." Ruby mumbled as she realised what that meant because Summer would surely get these reports. "And how much I sleep matters how?" Ruby asked once more.

"It doesn't. Councillor Tevos has given me a list of questions regarding your health that she would like answered." Glynda explained.

"You realise what this is right?" Ruby asked as she finished dressing and stared down Glynda.

"It was a beautiful ceremony you know? You should have come to it. Your mother missed you dearly." Glynda said softly as she stared back.

"Don't. She's not my mother, never will be. I sleep just fine, you can tell Tevos to stick that list up Summer's ass." Ruby said angrily and made to leave but Glynda stopped her.

"I'll just ask Neo then, she'll tell me." Glynda said causally as she turned around.

Ruby stopped dead in her tracks, closing her eyes. Glynda knew what Neo thought of the situation with Summer. Also, the fact that Neo was pretty much unable to lie to the doctor about anything.

"I get a couple hours, three at the most whenever I try to sleep. Sometimes I take tablets to sleep though I take more than the prescribed dose to get a restful night when my body needs it. What other questions have you got?" Ruby asked softly, sounding purely defeated.

"Nightmares, do you still get them?" Glynda asked as she made note of what she was told.

"Every night I try to sleep without tablets." Ruby stated.

"What are they about?" Glynda pushed.

"Mindoir, Akuze, Elysium and Torfan. It varies but it's always one of those." Ruby answered.

"Anything in particular about them?" Glynda followed up.

"Sometimes watching the events play out, or maybe changing things that played out." Ruby answered softly once more.

"Ok, thank you Ruby." Glynda said softly as she put her hand on Ruby's arm softly for comfort.

"Is that all?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, thank you." Glynda said as she watched Ruby walk out of the medical bay as she typed up her report on what she had learnt.

Ruby headed straight towards her new shared quarters, she had plans on what she wanted to do between now and getting to wherever Liara was.

Bringing up her Omni-tool she pulls up the Artemis Tau cluster and did a systematic search of anything relating to the Protheans that and she discovered about a planet containing ruins and some further digging she found a request for permission to look into the ruins by Liara T'Soni.

"Joker, set a course for Therum in the Knossos system please." Ruby messaged Joker briefly before changing her search parameters.

Finding what she was looking for she uploaded it to her terminal and sat down in front of it to start reading what she had found.

It was about an hour later then the door opened, and Neo walked in, "What are you up to?" Neo asked as she leant against the back of Ruby's chair.

"Reading Liara T'Soni's scientific papers about her studies of the Protheans. It's rather interesting, she believes that there was a race that came before the Protheans and were wiped out in similar fashion to the Protheans but there's even less evidence of them existing." Ruby explained cheerfully as she looked up at Neo. "What about you?"

"I was making sure the crew were settling in and that the ground team were all set for gear. Which they are, I hear you've found where Liara is." Neo said.

"Yeah, she's on Therum as she requested for permission to search the ruins there. Plus, it's the only planet in the cluster that has Prothean ruins." Ruby explained.

"It's always entertaining watching you work things out." Neo said as she smiled warmly down at Ruby, their eyes meeting.

Ruby didn't reply as she just continued to look into Neo's eyes until they suddenly changed colour from brown to pink causing Ruby to giggle at seeing the silly face Neo was pulling as she changed her eyes.

"You've got to tell me how you do that." Ruby stated as she shook her head and looked back at the terminal.

"A magician never reveals her secrets." Neo said as she wicked towards Ruby before heading over to the bed.

"Damn you." Ruby said jokingly as she started reading another of Liara's papers.

"Come to bed Ruby, you haven't slept in quite a while and I'm lonely." Neo called out from the bed as she laid down on it, looking up at Ruby expectantly.

"I'm not tired, I want to read up on what Liara has actually written to try and understand her." Ruby answered.

"Why not read it on your Omni and let me cuddle you?" Neo asked sweetly, looking up pleadingly towards Ruby.

Ruby sighed as she opened her Omni and wandered over to the bed, stripping down to her underwear to join Neo in their bed.

"Thank you." Neo said softly as she wrapped her arms around Ruby while Ruby put one arm around Neo to bring her closer as she felt Neo settle against her.

Ruby sat there reading more of the research paper until she finally felt the lure of sleep from feeling Neo's soft breathing next to her.

Closing her Omni, she settled down next to Neo before finally giving in to the temptation of sleep as she unconsciously brought Neo closer to her.

* * *

 _Ruby opened her eyes to discover she was in the blackness of space once more, looking around she attempted to find out just where she was exactly, but she spotted someone familiar._

 _"Javier." Ruby said respectfully as she inclined her head to the Prothean woman._

 _"Ruby. That woman, the Asari you are going after she is rather smart, isn't she?" Javier asked as she referred to Liara._

 _"She is…wait, how do you know about her?" Ruby asked suspiciously._

 _"All of our kind are interconnected with pass lives, if you think of it we all know." Javier answered._

 _"So, if there are loads of you from each cycle then why are you the only one talking to me? Surely all their experiences would be helpful to know." Ruby asked._

 _"You are correct, but it was considered best that only one person, the one from the cycle before to communicate with the newest warrior so to not overwhelm them and I have all the knowledge of the past warriors." Javier answered calmly._

 _"Right. And we're called warriors, was everyone a warrior, a soldier?" Ruby asked as she was curious about the name._

 _"No. Some were great scientists, the one who created the Conduit was a silver eyed warrior." Javier explained._

 _"Wait, is that you?" Ruby asked sounding excited._

 _"Sadly not, I was a soldier. The war with the Reapers lasted over a hundred years and there were several warriors in that time." Javier answered._

 _"So, does that mean you know what the conduit is?" Ruby asked._

 _"It was a means to delay or stop the cycle completely however with this new vanguard you will need to fight to stop the cycle." Javier said, not revealing much about the Conduit._

 _"Right. Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?" Ruby asked as she was suddenly unsure why she was here again and annoyed at how unhelpful that answer was._

 _"I wanted to share something with you, it was one of my last battles before I died. I want you to see just how bad it is going to get." Javier explained to her._

 _"I'm ready." Ruby said as she stood up strongly._

 _"You are not ready for this." Javier said as she reached and grabbed Ruby._

 _She was thrown into the memory as she was standing beside Javier watching as the woman was wearing the same armour she had on now but with a type of particle rifle in her hands alongside a group of Protheans._

 _"Fire at anything that moves!" Javier yelled to her team as doors opened and bug like Protheans came charging towards them._

 _'What are they?' Ruby asked as the memory played out with Javier firing at the bugs._

 _'Corrupted Protheans, like the husks you fought before but Protheans. They are still around today, known as the Collectors." Javier explained._

 _'Wait. I thought they were a myth?' Ruby asked in surprise._

 _'No, they still exist and are still working with the Reapers now though they are in habitation for the moment.' Javier answered though the anger was clear in her voice._

 _'I see. So, the husks are corrupted humans, working for the Reapers?' Ruby asked._

 _'Yes. The point of this memory was to show you how anyone and everyone could turn against you, that is the power of the Reapers indoctrination.' Javier said as the memory ended._

 _They returned to the blackness of space around the pair as they were pulled away from the vision as Javier was preparing to launch a grenade into a large group._

 _"Was there anything else?" Ruby asked, already thinking about what she had learnt._

 _"For the moment there isn't, not yet." Javier said as she vanished from Ruby's view._

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Another chapter down, also bonus points if you know what Messorem means, it's a Latin word and is the title of the sequel to this whenever I write it.**

 **Not much to say really, just a sort of filler chapter with not much happening. Anyway until next time, thank you for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7-**

Ruby woke up slowly as she noticed that Neo was still sleeping cuddled up next to her. Checking the time Ruby saw that she had been asleep for almost nine hours.

"Joker, how long till we reach Therum?" Ruby asked as she opened a channel to the bridge.

"We've got about another hour before we reach orbit Commander, we'll start running scans on the planet once we're in range." Joker informed her.

"Right, once you have a location let me know." Ruby replied.

"Will do commander." Joker said as the connection was cut.

"Neo, wake up." Ruby said as she nudged Neo to wake her up but she refused. "We need to get ready, unless you don't want to go on the mission." Ruby said once more.

"I'm up." Neo grumbled as she moved to sit up, rubbing her eyes.

"Shower?" Ruby asked.

"Please. Want to join me?" Neo asked as she moved off the bed.

"It'll save water, I doubt it's set for two Captains." Ruby replied, knowing that on a ship that water was a commodity for washing with so it would be easier to share, and it wasn't like it was the first time they shared a shower together.

"Who do we want on this mission?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm, Tali and Wrex. Wrex for any trouble and if we're going into Prothean ruins then who knows what we'll encounter so Tali will help there." Neo answered sleepily.

"Alright, I'll get them to gear up while you start the shower." Ruby replied as she opened her Omni.

Forty-five minutes later found Ruby, Neo, Tali and Wrex. All in full armour and weapons stood next to the Mako as they waited for Joker to inform them of what the scans had found.

"Are you both good?" Ruby asked, her helmet in place and hood was up with the cloak wrapped around her body.

"Itching for a fight." Wrex grumbled as he moved from leg to leg.

"I'm ready Commander." Tali said though the nervousness in her voice was evident.

"Commander's, I'm detecting several Geth ships around the planet and I'm getting some readings from a dig site, looks like someone's down there making a lot of noise." Joker informed them.

"Right, the doctor must be there. Let's go. Joker, how long till we reach a drop point?" Neo asked.

"Five minutes, but you'll be a couple clicks away. Only viable drop site." Joker answered.

"Copy that, let's go." Ruby said as she got everyone inside.

"What's a click?" Tali asked.

"Kilometre." Neo said as she slid into the driver's seat and Tali moved to a radar station. And Wrex sat down in a random chair.

Normally only three people could fit into the Mako but theirs was modified to fit four people though the gunner was further back with controls for the gun.

"Stand by for drop. Approaching drop point in one minute, secure the cargo bay." Joker's voice rang out across the whole cargo bay as personnel scrambled to secure everything and move into the engineering room.

"Bay door opening. Ground team, stand by." Joker said and Neo powered up the engine to move them forward slightly.

"Approaching drop point, position marked on your display, confirm." Joker asked.

"Drop point confirmed." Neo replied.

"Five, four, three, two, one. One away." Joker announced.

The Mako rolled out of the ship from the momentum of the ship alongside Neo gunning the vehicle forward and they were in freefall.

"Drop zone spotted, stand by for deceleration." Neo said to them all as she activated the thrusters to slow them down as they reached the ground so it was simply a rough bump on the ground.

"Normandy, we've landed safely on the ground. Move into holding pattern and await the call for extraction." Ruby ordered.

"Copy Commander." Joker said and the communications were cut off.

"Tali, picking anything up?" Neo asked as she started them moving forward.

"Nothing yet Commander, but I'm watching out for anything suspicious." Tali promised them.

The ride was quiet for the first kilometre but then Tali screamed out, "Geth dropship, coming in." Tali called out.

"I see it." Ruby said, the turret tracking the movement of the ship but it simply dropped off something and flew off. "Evade!" Ruby called out as she watched the four-legged robot fire towards them.

Ruby opened fire with the main gun, using the cannon first but seeing it survive the blast she opened with the machine gun as the gun autoloaded another shell before firing again and killing it this time.

"Any more targets?" Ruby asked.

"Up ahead, I'm picking up more Geth." Tali informed her.

"Got it. Neo let's get moving again, double time we have to get to Liara immediately." Ruby said.

"On it." Neo answered and immediately started following the path towards the dig site while Ruby fired at anything that moved.

"Normandy, this is ground team. Are you reading me?" Neo attempted as she drove them along the ground.

"We're being jammed." Tali informed them all.

"Turrets up ahead, take the path to the right to avoid them." Ruby ordered. And Neo followed the directions to take the path away from the main gate.

Destroying the turret guarding the side entrance they pulled into compound where Ruby immediately began to fire on the Geth inside.

"Moving left." Neo said calmly as they moved into the compound which they found that had the gates were locked up both ways.

"Right, Neo take the team to open the gate while I provide covering fire." Ruby said as Neo brought them close to the gatehouse as Ruby started to fire at the Geth in the large courtyard area.

It didn't take the three of them long to open the gate and return to the Mako as Ruby finished up the Geth. "Let's move, the dig site isn't too far away now." Ruby said to hurry them up.

They encountered a few more Geth Armatures along the way but then they got to a rock pass that the Mako couldn't fit through and the thrusters would be unable to get the vehicle over it.

"Right, everyone out." Ruby ordered as Neo climbed out first before waving everyone down.

"Activating the recovery beacon, hopefully the Normandy will pick it up." Neo said.

"Wrex with me on point." Ruby ordered as she raised her rifle and moved forward through the rocky path.

A bullet impacted on her shields causing her to immediately take cover behind some fallen rocks. "SNIPER!" Ruby yelled out to the others who dropped into cover as well.

"There's shock troopers coming right for us." Tali warned them.

"You three take care of the other Geth, I've got the snipers." Ruby said as she rested her rifle against the rocks and looked through the scope.

"Tali, overlord their shields. Wrex, biotics." Neo ordered in short fashion as she took her Locust and started to fire on the weaker Geth as Tali worked on eliminating shields on any of the Geth and Wrex took advantage of this to kill them with his shotgun and biotics.

Throughout this, Ruby's rifle was barking as each shot got a kill from one of the snipers that kept them pinned down in their cover there.

"Juggernaut!" Tali warned them but as the word left her mouth the head exploded off the Geth juggernaut.

"Clear!" Ruby shouted as she ejected both thermal clips as she used the high-powered shot of her rifle. "Ammo?" Ruby asked them.

"We're good." Neo answered for them.

"Right, let's move up and keep your eyes open. There'll be ambush points everywhere." Ruby warned them as she took point again with Wrex as they killed more Geth that attempted to attack them but they moved without stopping.

"Geth dropship! Coming in!" Tali yelled out the warning as the four of them all moved to cover as they expected the dropship to open fire on them but instead it just dropped off more Geth troopers alongside an Armature.

"There's a fucker hopping around." Neo called out as she watched a rather flexible Geth jumping around everywhere.

"Hold on." Ruby replied as her body lit up red and she pulled the Geth to her as it hopped above them. As it was floating in the air Ruby fired a single shot through its head, killing it outright. "Sorted."

"What about the Armature?" Tali asked.

"We destroy it." Wrex stated as he killed another trooper.

"Take out the infantry first, avoid the Armatures fire." Ruby said as the Armature attempted to get a shot on them.

It didn't take them long to take the infantry down, but the Armature hindered them a bit until that was the only Geth left.

"So, got a plan?" Ruby asked as she turned to Neo.

"Of course." Neo said as she pulled her grenade launcher out just as a burst of pulse fire hit the crates they were hiding behind.

"Shit. Who's doing it?" Ruby asked as the two shared a look before raising a close fist to each other.

They shook them three times before Ruby showed a flat hand, but Neo showed two fingers open. "Motherfucker." Ruby cursed as she stored her weapon and moved to the side.

"Only fair." Neo said but only received a middle finger as Ruby run out of cover across to the slight hill part.

The Armature followed Ruby as it tracked its fire to try and hit Ruby but while it's attention was drawn away, Neo crouched out of cover and fired off three grenades towards the Geth, each impacting on its head and legs.

Secondary explosions happened as the Geth blew up from its internal power supply going off. Once it was clear it was dead the group regrouped with each other.

"Are you alright Commander?" Tali asked as she looked towards Ruby.

"I'm fine. No thanks to Neo, but I'm fine. Let's get down into the ruins and see if we can find the doctor." Ruby said as the group moved down the tunnel.

They made their way down the tunnel and further down in an elevator which broke as they reached the next level but as they approached the edge they spotted a Geth.

Raising a closed fist, everyone stopped as Ruby wrapped the cloak further around her body as she turned invisible to the naked eye.

The trio watched as the Geth buckled and was gently laid on the ground with a knife being pulled out of its neck.

"Right, there's a few Geth roaming around down here but I can see some sort of blue barrier down below. We'll move slowly and try to keep it quiet as long as possible." Ruby said quietly and receiving nods from her team they started moving through the ruins.

Ruby took out who she could with her knife as they moved down however they reached a point where there were too many Geth around to take out slowly.

"Engage on my mark." Ruby said as she slowly stood up, as soon as she fired her rifle the others opened up as well and quickly took out the Geth.

Now that the area was clear, at least for the moment they approached the blue barrier where inside was an Asari inside a blue bubble suspended in the air.

"Who are you?" The Asari asked.

"Spectre Rose, with me is Commander Gelato, Tali and Wrex. Are you Liara T'Soni?" Ruby asked the Asari.

"A human Spectre? My mind is going crazy." Liara mumbled to herself.

"No, I am a human Spectre. First one. Look, we'll get you out. Any idea how to take down the barrier?" Ruby asked.

"I'll play along then. I got stuck in here trying to escape a Krogan and his Geth, telling me that I was wanted by my mother, but I knew she would never send a Krogan." Liara explained. "But the only controls are here next to me, and you can't take this barrier down. Some sort of defensive function." Liara explained.

"Right, what's behind you?" Neo asked next.

"There's an elevator behind me but all the other sections are too high for you to reach." Liara answered.

"Let us worry about that. Hang tight." Ruby said, smirking underneath her helmet though the joke was lost on the Asari.

"Move out, I think I spotted a mining laser down below. We'll use that to dig further down." Ruby ordered, and the group started moving further down the ruins.

"Geth all around the laser, seems like they're waiting for something." Neo said as she looked down.

"Right. Fire and advance, Tali once it's clear start working on getting that laser fired up." Ruby said to all of them.

"Got it." The three others all said.

"Wrex, care to kick it off?" Neo offered the Krogan.

"With pleasure." Wrex said as he moved to his full height and threw a warp towards a trooper before jumping down and charging another one.

The others moved up to support Wrex's charge against the Geth who quickly took out those trying to attack Wrex.

Once the area was clear Tali immediately ran over to the console as she hacked the controls. "Commanders, it's ready to go. Are you sure you want to do this? It could destabilise the entire cave?" Tali asked as she was unsure what exactly to do.

"Do it." Ruby ordered.

Tali nodded and silently operated the mining laser to fire into the ground. After a few seconds, the laser burnt out and stopped firing, but it did its work to clear a path down.

"Right, let's move. Who knows how long we actually have down here." Neo said as she led the way down through the Prothean structure and to an elevator at the back.

"So, how does this work?" Wrex asked as he looked at the strange writing on the controls.

Ruby just stood there staring at the controls as a little voice at the back of her head explained all the controls as she operated the elevator to bring them all up towards Liara.

"How did you know that?" Tali asked.

"I've no idea." Ruby said quietly, not completely sure how she knew this.

"It must be the Beacon, maybe impacting some of the language onto you." Neo offered up.

Ruby just nodded along with the explanation as she wondered what this structure could be for, especially with this type of security on it. Perhaps it was a prison of some sorts for them.

"Here's our stop." Neo said as the elevator stopped at Liara's prison section.

"How did you get here?" Liara asked in surprise.

"Elevator." Ruby stated as she wandered over to the console, already reading and understanding the words written on the console.

"I'm guessing you haven't seen your mother, recently have you?" Neo asked as Liara was still suspended in the air.

"No! I haven't even spoken to her in years." Liara replied.

"How about we get out of here first?" Ruby suggested as she pressed a button on the console which released the bubble holding Liara up.

Immediately Ruby stepped back to catch Liara as she fell but stopped her from hitting the ground. "Are you alright to walk?" Ruby asked softly, gently lowering Liara to the ground.

"Yes…yes, I should be fine, thank you Spectre." Liara said as she gently placed her feet on the ground and took a couple unsteady steps.

"Let's go." Neo said as she turned and led the way back to the elevator as the ground rumbled. "So, mining laser, bad idea?" Neo said to the group.

"Normandy, Normandy this is ground team, respond." Ruby said with a hand against her ear.

"Ground team, this is Normandy. Commander are you reading me?" Joker's voice echoed in their ears.

"Copy Normandy, we need a hot extraction at the entrance to the ruins." Ruby ordered.

"Copy that, three minutes away." Joker informed them.

"Let's get out of here." Neo said as she copied the same button Ruby pressed earlier however as they got to the top there was a Krogan with Geth troopers waiting for them.

"Stay behind me." Ruby said quietly to Liara as she nodded towards Neo.

"Hand over the Asari. Or don't." The Krogan said as he approached them, the Geth moving to surround them.

"You do realise this whole cave is coming down around us, right?" Neo asked the Krogan.

"Fun, isn't it?" The Krogan asked jokingly.

Neo shook her head slightly at the Krogan but knew there wasn't anything she could go about it but she knew she needed to delay him.

"Working for Saren then?" Neo asked the Krogan.

"Wrex. Prepare to throw a warp at the Krogan. Tali, grab Liara and hide behind the pillar to our back and start taking out the Geth. Neo, break straight through and take the snipers." Ruby ordered quickly, her helmet speakers disabled as she gave the quiet verbal commands.

Neo nonverbally replied by activating her mic twice. "Well we're not handing Liara over, so unless you wish to leave." Neo said to the Krogan as she looked at him.

The Krogan simply laughed in response but before he could give the order to attack, Wrex threw a warp towards him which made him stumble.

Immediately the others scrambled to carry out their orders as they moved whereas Ruby and Neo's bodies were wrapped up in their biotics as they charged forward, however Neo went straight to the snipers whereas Ruby took a shorter trip.

Ruby smashed into the Krogan like a freight train as the combinations of biotic energy caused an explosive reaction which pushed the Krogan back but somehow, he remained on his feet.

Though Ruby was prepared for this as she had her feet mag-locked onto his chest, one hand diving down while bringing forth her Omni blade, diving down to destroy the Krogan's two hearts. At the same time, her pistol was drawn, and she unloaded the entire clip into his head.

Ruby moved with the Krogan as he fell, dead. Once he hit the ground Ruby deactivated her magnetic boots and rolled off him as she threw a pull straight towards a Geth shock trooper nearest to her, she removed its head as she ducked behind cover to avoid another shock trooper's pulse rounds.

Using this small respite Ruby reloaded her pistol and as she moved into a crouch next to the pillar, she was about to fire at the Geth, but it was blown apart by a shotgun blast from Wrex.

"Clear!" Neo yelled out.

"Sound out!" Ruby called back as she checked for anymore enemies.

"Neo, good." Neo replied.

"I'm good." Wrex stated.

"I'm alright and so is Liara." Tali informed them as the cave rumbled once more, rocks starting to fall.

"Shit. Move it, now!" Ruby shouted out as she pushed Tali and Liara forward to start running. "Normandy, hot extract. Repeat hot extract!" Ruby called into her radio, not waiting for a response.

Neo took up the front as she led them through the twisting paths perfectly as she got to the door leading towards the surface.

"Go, go, go!" Neo yelled out as she pushed people up the tunnel.

Ruby watched as Liara seemed to slack a little and grow weaker so Ruby just picked her up into her arms and carried on running effortlessly. "Move it." Ruby said to Neo and the pair charged up the tunnel together, coming out to see the Normandy hovering just above the entrance.

"You first." Neo said as she pushed Ruby up into the cargo hold as she followed soon after.

"Go!" Ruby yelled out to Joker as they pulled away they could see the volcano erupting. "Whoops." Ruby said as she watched the Prothean ruins being destroyed.

Neo laughed at the comment as she knew what Ruby was like, "Doctor T'Soni, are you alright?" Neo asked.

"I…I'm fine, thank you Commander." Liara replied as she was placed back onto her feet with a gentleness that surprised her, especially after she saw what this woman had done barely minutes earlier.

"You should be checked out by Doctor Goodwitch at least, you're dehydrated and perhaps under nourished." Ruby said as the trio moved towards the elevator, nodding towards Tali and Wrex who were removing weapons and armour.

"Joker, get the ground team assembled in the briefing room in thirty minutes." Ruby called out.

"On it Commander." Joker answered as they pulled away. "Oh, and when do I get my medal? You know, for pulling your ass out of the fire." Joker commented.

"When you do something no other pilot could." Neo fired back as she laughed at the huff she got.

"Your pilot is making jokes? After that?" Liara asked in surprise.

"It's his way of dealing with stress, better just to let him get on with it." Ruby commented.

"Here, we'll leave you with the doctor. I'll have someone escort you to the briefing room once she's finished." Ruby said to the Asari as Doctor Goodwitch welcomed Liara into the medical bay.

"Private!" Neo called over a soldier. "Once the doctor has cleared Doctor T'Soni, escort her to the briefing room."

"Yes ma'am." The Private said, saluting Neo.

"Let's get our armour off and go to the meeting." Ruby said as they went towards the captain's quarters.

They removed their armour quietly, securing their weapons as they remained in the nanosuits underneath their armour and wrapped their cloaks around their body for modesties sake for the others and attached their pistols to their hips.

"Let's go." Neo said as they were finished. At the same time, they spotted Liara leaving the medical bay. "Private, you're dismissed." Neo ordered.

"Are you alright Liara?" Ruby asked.

"I am fine, thank you. The doctor said that I will be fine but am simply dehydrated and need to drink some fluids to catch up and eat." Liara explained.

"Right, that's easily done. Would you like to get some now?" Neo asked.

"No, we should get to the briefing." Liara said.

"Alright then. Are you alright with us calling you Liara?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, it's my name. Why wouldn't I?" Liara asked in a confused tone.

"What she means is, that using someone's given name is rather personal. She's asking if it's alright we call you Liara instead of Doctor T'Soni. It's a matter of preference. If you don't want us to be that familiar with you this early on, then we won't." Neo explained for Liara and the question.

"I see. I'm sorry, I'm not used to human customs." Liara explained. "But yes, it is fine. Thank you for asking." Liara answered.

"It's alright. Come on, sooner we get this done then the sooner we can move onto other stuff." Neo said as they entered the briefing room.

"Joker, set course for the Sparta system and keep an ear out for any distress call." Ruby ordered as she gestured for everyone to sit down.

"Right, the mission as you can see was a success. We also learnt something about Saren. He's not only got Geth but also Krogan but we don't know the extent of it." Ruby said as she started the meeting.

"We'll have to assume he's got quite a few, which means he has quite a few hard hitters." Neo said.

"What about Doctor T'Soni? What are we doing about her?" Kaiden asked.

"Well the council would like for us to hand her over to them, allow her to be questioned and perhaps put her into protective custody." Ruby explained.

"What? Spectre, please don't…" Liara started to say but Neo raised her hand to stop her.

"We're not doing that Liara, not only because we don't want to, we require your help." Neo explained as she attempted to relax Liara as she looked over to Ruby.

"I interacted with a Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime, it implanted a part of a vision into my brain though it is incomplete." Ruby said.

"You interacted with a Prothean Beacon and survived?" Liara asked in surprise.

"Yes, I did. We were hoping that your knowledge of the Protheans would help us to understand the vision." Ruby replied.

"Well I mainly focus on the…" Liara started but Ruby interrupted her.

"The extinction of the Protheans and how it happened. You also found some evidence of a species before the Protheans but evidence of them is hard to find." Ruby answered, "I read your papers, they are rather interesting." Ruby said.

"Oh I see. Well, yes that's where my focus is." Liara said as she was surprised that someone had read her papers.

"The vision that was implanted into my brain, it was like a warning of some kind. Of beings called Reapers." Ruby said, not trying to give too much away in what she knew from Javier.

"This vision, what is it like?" Liara asked.

"Death. Destruction, it's fragmented but I got the gist of it." Ruby answered.

Everyone around them were just simply watching the exchange between the two of them, watching as the two seemed to talk in riddles.

"I…I think if we join minds then perhaps you could share the vision, I could help piece it together with you." Liara suggested.

"I don't think that would be wise." Ruby said diplomatically.

"Spectre, it isn't invasive, and it won't be painful." Liara said.

"I think…" Neo attempted to speak up but Ruby stopped her with a raised hand.

"Alright then." Ruby said as Liara stood up in front of her.

"Relax your mind Spectre, let the waters wash over you." Liara said softly. "Embrace eternity." Liara said as her eyes went black.

" _I apologise." Ruby said as Liara moved into her mind._

 _She felt the first barrier, gently attempting to push through the barrier. "Spectre, please allow me to through." Liara asked._

" _The Warrior is not here. You may not enter her mind. Do not try to again." A voice said as Liara felt herself forcefully get thrown out._

Liara was thrown back onto the ground rather hard as Ruby's body lit up in silver for a moment but it was enough for everyone to see.

"Liara!" Neo called, rushing to her side. She fully expected her to be thrown out of the meld, but not like this.

"Nazara." Liara breathed out as her eyes sort out Ruby's.

Ruby looked down towards Liara as she knelt to help the doctor get up. "You should go see Doctor Goodwitch to check on you, and get some food and drink into you." Ruby said, "Everyone else, dismissed. We're heading to the Sparta system on search and rescue as we wait for our next lead." Ruby ordered.

"But!" Williams attempted to say but a pointed look from Neo stopped her as everyone filed away.

"Williams, make sure Doctor T'Soni goes to see Goodwitch." Neo ordered as she went back into the room. "What was that?" Neo asked Ruby who still stood in the middle of the room.

"You know that mind melds don't work with me, something in my mind rejects them." Ruby explained. She'd come across this ability before however it didn't knock them to the ground before.

"What was it she called you afterwards?" Neo asked, pushing her slightly.

"Nazara." Ruby said softly. "That Asari legend I told you about, they call the warrior, Nazara. Messorem is the specific name for one of the Nazara. I…I haven't exactly been truthful about what happened when I interacted with the beacon." Ruby started to say, ready to tell Neo what had happened.

"Commander, I have the council for you. They're asking for a report." Joker interrupted them.

"Put them through, Neo why don't you go check on Liara and ask her about joining the ground team." Ruby said as she effectively dismissed Neo, avoiding the conversation.

"This isn't over." Neo promised as she left to do as Ruby asked her to.

"Patch them through Joker." Ruby said and within seconds the three councillors appeared in front of her.

"Commander." The Turian councillor said.

"Spectre." Ruby corrected immediately.

"Pardon?" The councillor asked.

"It's Spectre, while I haven't given up my commission, yet my rank is Spectre which should be respected, especially by those that have given me such a rank." Ruby stated bluntly as she looked at them.

"How…" But the Turian was interrupted.

"As we should Spectre, but that is not why we have called. You have Liara T'Soni in your custody, correct?" Councillor Tevos asked as she steered the conversation away.

"I do, though it is clear that she isn't in contact with her mother. You've got my initial report of what had happened on Therum. A Krogan was leading the Geth in a rather large assault and delaying action to retrieve Dr T'Soni. I've also found that there were no communications between Dr T'Soni and her mother." Ruby explained.

"How are you so sure? You should return to the Citadel immediately and hand her over to C-sec." The Turian councillor ordered.

"I can't do that I'm afraid, she is invaluable already to my team with her knowledge on the Protheans so I'm afraid I can't do that." Ruby stated bluntly as she stopped them.

"We are giving you a direct order…" The Turian councillor attempted to say but Ruby just cut the connection.

"Uh, wow Commander. I'm surprised that you just hung up on the council like that. Wait." Joker said before coming back, "Commander I have the Asari councillor requesting to speak to you." Joker said.

"Patch her through Joker and isolate this room please. No listening in and inform all crew that I should be referred to as Spectre now instead of Commander." Ruby ordered.

"Copy that Command…Spectre." Joker said and the Asari councillor appeared once more.

"That was rather brave Spectre, though I must thank you for the annoyance I will have from the others about your behaviour." Tevos explained.

"I would apologise but we both know I would just be lying." Ruby replied.

Tevos simply sighed as she knew the truth, "I know. How's Liara?" Tevos asked.

"Dehydrated and a bit hungry but she's well. She's with our medical officer as she attempted to meld with me to help me to understand the vision I got from the beacon." Ruby explained quickly.

"You allowed her to meld with you? Are you stupid?" Tevos cried out as she couldn't believe Ruby.

"You know that with your people, they never believe me if I told them so I just let her do it." Ruby answered though she avoided telling her just how badly it had gone.

"I know." Tevos replied.

"So, why are you so concerned with Liara's wellbeing?" Ruby asked.

"She's my goddaughter, I want to make sure she is safe. Especially since her mother is involved in all of this." Tevos answered.

"We'll keep her safe, though we are asking if she'd like to join our ground team." Ruby informed her.

"I see. It is her own choice, though I would much rather have her in my own protection and away from all of this, but I understand." Tevos responded.

"Thank you. Also, if I send some request forms through, would you be able to have the Alliance transfer some equipment to the Citadel?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, I can ask Summer to help me in this." Tevos said as she didn't see Ruby's wince at the name.

"Thank you, if that's all?" Ruby asked as she trailed off a little.

"Yes. Thank you and good luck." Tevos said as the connection was cut off.

Ruby stood there watching the empty space as she became lost in thought. After a few minutes, Ruby finally left the room but headed down to the cargo bay.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **So, another chapter down, and one that was much longer because I didn't want to split this mission up. Who knows where we're heading next?**

 **Not much to say so see you next time.**


End file.
